§ Mr. Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made(a) on the Government sustainability index on climate change and (b) towards the Government's domestic target for a 20 per cent. reduction in CO2 emissions based on 1990 levels; and if she will make a statement. [77462]
§ Mr. Meacher(a) The latest figures for the Headline Sustainable Development Indicator for Climate Change were published in a Defra Statistical Press Release on 28 March. Emissions on the "basket" of six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol, weighted by global warming potential, fell by 13.2 per cent. between the 1990 base year and 2000, the last year for which confirmed data is available. There was no change between 1999 and 2000. The UK has a target under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008–12. We remain on course to achieve this target.
(b) A provisional estimate of carbon dioxide emissions for 2001, based on energy use, was published by the Department for Trade and Industry in March in its Energy Trends publication. This estimated that carbon dioxide emissions were 154.4 million tonnes of carbon, approximately 6 per cent. below the UK's 1990 baseline emissions of 16.4 million tonnes of carbon.