HC Deb 24 January 1995 vol 253 cc104-5W
Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the level of carbon dioxide emissions for each year since 1980; and what efforts his Department has implemented to reduce these levels.

Mr. Atkins

Annual United Kingdom emissions of carbon dioxide since 1980 are as follows:

Estimated annual United Kingdom emissions for carbon dioxide, expressed in terms of weight of carbon (million tonnes of carbon)
Year Amount
1980 164
1981 157
1982 154
1983 152
1984 148
1985 154
1986 158
1987 159
1988 159
1989 156
1990 158
1991 159
1992 155
1993 1152
1latest provisional estimate.

In fulfilment of our commitment under the climate change convention, the UK climate change programme, published in January 1994, sets out in full the measures aimed at returning emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, to 1990 levels by the year 2000.

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his most recent figures for annual CO2 emissions for the United Kingdom; and what assessment he has made of their consistency with the target set in "Climate Change: The UK Programme".

Mr. Atkins

I refer the hon. Member to my oral answer of Wednesday 18 January 1995,Official Report, column 706, to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) and to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) earlier today.