§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the actions taken by the Government since the Kyoto agreement to ensure that the UK meets its emissions reductions targets; and what assessment he has made of the actions taken by the US Government to reduce their country's C02 emissions. [56512]
§ Mr. MealeOn 26 October the Government launched a consultation paper which lists the steps we have already taken and sets out in detail further options on how the UK could reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. It aims to stimulate a national debate about how the UK can meet both the legally binding Kyoto target to cut emissions to 12.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012 and our domestic goal of a 20 per cent. cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010.
Our newclimate change programme will include measures to improve energy efficiency by business and in the home; reduce transport emissions; and increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources and combined heat and power schemes.
Through our Washington Embassy and other contacts we receive regular reports of action taken and proposed, by the US Government to reduce their carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. A recent US Administration report ("The Kyoto Protocol and the President's Policies to Address Climate Change: Administration Economic Analysis", July 1998) assessing the economic implications of their Kyoto target concluded that there was a strong rationale for action because of the dangers of climate change, and that the costs of doing so were likely to be modest.