§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of sulphur emissions in the UK. [111589]
§ Alun MichaelThe latest estimate of UK atmospheric sulphur emissions is 1,125 kilotonnes in 2001. This is a 70 per cent. reduction on the 1990 emission (of 3,719 kilotonnes), and ahead of the UK's 2005 target of 1,470 kilotonnes in the 1994 UN/ECE protocol on the further reduction of sulphur emissions. The reductions are mainly attributed to lower emissions from power stations, homes and industry from the use of cleaner fuels and the fitting of emission abatement equipment, and from transport following the introduction of low sulphur fuels. Time series of UK emissions of pollutants are published annually in the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI), which can be viewed on the Internet atwww.naei.org.uk.