CCC report reveals UK emissions rose 3% in 2010
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has revealed that UK greenhouse gas emissions rose by 3% in 2010, and are therefore not falling fast enough to meet the government's emission reduction targets (80% by 2050). This was in part because we have had a particularly cold winter, but the trend is still flat.
The government has set five-yearly "carbon budgets", proposed by the CCC, and 2010 emissions were within budget, but this has been put down to the recession lowering economic activity and emissions in 2009 and it is unclear whether the UK will stay within budget if we see economic growth of 2% and above in 2011 onwards. This uncertainty suggests that existing policies haven't quite cracked the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions.
The CCC report shows that people are buying less polluting vehicles and installing more efficient boilers, but progress on home insulation is slowing. The goverment is hoping that the Green Deal will reinvigorate the installation of proper home insulation (among other initiatives), but the scheme won't be available until 2012, so in the mean time you can take things into your own hands - summer is an ideal time to beef up your home insulation so pop up into your attic and check to see if you have sufficient insulation to keep the drafts out!
