Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Hansard, 26 March 1990)

§ 19. Mr. Jack
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what steps he is taking to reduce United Kingdom emissions of carbon dioxide from power stations.

§ Mr. Wakeham
My Department's programmes to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy and our support of nuclear power will all help to reduce future emissions of CO₂. The non-fossil fuel obligation on the privatised electricity supply industry will further promote the development of technologies which do not emit CO₂.

§ 59. Mr. Ray Powell
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to(a) publish and (b) achieve CO₂ emission reduction targets for the energy sector.

§ Mr. Peter Morrison
The United Kingdom, along with other industrialised nations, was a party to the Noordwijk declaration on atmospheric pollution and climatic change in November 1989, which stated that emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, should be stabilised at a level and on a time scale to be considered by the intergovernmental panel on climate change and by the second world climate conference in November 1990. That remains the position.

§ Mr. Speller
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is the level of carbon dioxide emission reductions in the United Kingdom estimated to be possible by 2005 and 2020 due to energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, nuclear power, or the increased use of natural gas.

§ Mr. Peter Morrison
An indication of the extent to which some technical options in isolation can contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions together with their associated costs is provided in the study (chapter 5), "An Evaluation of Energy—related Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Measures to Ameliorate Them". Further consideration of the economic costs of the various options will need to be made in due course.