Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Hansard, 30 November 1989)

§ Mr. Wakeham

I am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that the study entitled "An Evaluation of Energy Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Measures to Ameliorate Them" for the energy and industry subgroup of the response strategies working group of the UNEP/WMO intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) is now ready and has been sent to the IPCC. The United Kingdom along with certain other countries volunteered to submit such urgent studies in order to assist the subgroup in its work. The aim of the studies is to illustrate, from the national perspectives of participating countries, the practical technical options and their possible costs, which may be available to curtail emissions of the "greehouse" gases from the many energy-related activities of society.

Of necessity, the study has to consider the size of future emissions of the greenhouse gases and the shape of the then energy system, as background against which the technical measures can be analysed. Such scenarios of future emissions, being very dependent on the input assumptions, are intended to provide only a framework for assessing the options. They are not predictions of the future. Similarly the impact of any one technical option is uncertain; and since each option in the paper has been considered in isolation it would be wrong to draw any conclusion from any combination of them.

It is clear that the United Kingdom is responsible for only a fraction (approximately 3 per cent. of the world's CO₂ emissions) and that this is likely to decline proportionately in the future. Therefore, tackling the problem of climate change needs truly international action, as all recent studies of the subject (including the recent valuable contribution from the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology) have stressed. That is why it is important for all countries to concentrate their efforts on the work of the IPCC. Once its advice is available, it will be for the international community to decide what measures should be taken, and how best individual countries can contribute to the global response.

I have today placed a copy of the study report in the Library of the House.