Tonight:
2°c
Greenhouse gases 'must be cut'
2 Dec 2008- Tributes paid to Whitney Houston
- Lansley must go, says Lib Dem MP
- Hunt backs FA over Terry decision
- Sex change man 'first male mother'
- Arab League 'may return to Syria'
- RBS bankers arrested in tax probe
- BAE executives 'could net bonuses'
- End of bitter cold snap in sight
- Resurgent Romney is the Maine man
- Anger over marriage tax breaks
The UK must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 34% by 2020, the committee set up to advise the Government on climate change has recommended.
The Committee on Climate Change, chaired by Adair Turner, also said emissions should be cut by even more if an international deal on reducing greenhouse gases is agreed.
If the current UN negotiations lead to a new deal on climate change in Copenhagen next December, the UK's greenhouse gases should be cut by 42% on 1990 levels by the end of the next decade.
The significant reductions can be achieved at a cost of less than 1% of GDP in 2020, and using existing green technologies, a report from the committee said.
But stronger Government policies will be needed to move the UK to a low-carbon economy.
The cuts can be achieved by cleaner power generation from sources such as wind, which could make up 30% of the UK's electricity by 2020, and measures including energy-efficiency improvements in homes and offices and developing more efficient, electric and hydrogen-powered cars.
The report said nuclear power could play a role in low-carbon electricity generation, and did not rule out new conventional coal-fired power stations in the next decade.
It recommended the Government should make clear that fossil-fuelled power plants which do not have technology to trap and permanently store carbon emissions should not be allowed to generate electricity beyond the early 2020s.
New coal-fired power stations should only be built with the "clear expectation and certainty" that they should be retrofitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) by the early 2020s, Lord Turner said.
The climate change committee, set up under the Climate Change Act, has already recommended a cut of 80% on 1990 levels by 2050 - advice which has been accepted by the Government.
Reader views (4)
In view of the loss of manufacturing this nation will be beaten back into the dark ages by these crazy idealists. look at India that has been on a green crusade for so long and here cities look like toilets.
- Jas, Camberley UK, 01/12/2008 21:30
Report abuse
All together now! Try it! Please! Just once for Mummy! - Man-made global warming is a myth: green house gases don't have to be cut - the climate always changes - it's the solar cycle. The end of the world is not nigh! We're all going to be all right.... There! That wasn't so difficult now, was it? All that fuss for a little thing like an anti-capitalist, Socialist-engineered bit of scare-mongering!
- James Murphy, Petersfield, 01/12/2008 17:43
Report abuse
I think that we need some detailed figures to provide assurances that this draconian programme won't result in job losses or overstretch our already beleaguered economy.
Man made climate change has never been proven and is the stuff of computer models. On the other hand the rises in our energy costs and food bills are very real.
- Jools, London, 01/12/2008 17:37
Report abuse
What credibility does Turner have when only last week he was reported as saying that Heathrow could build a third runway and still not exceed emissions targets? Or are we all meant to go without heating or lighting in order that aviation can expand unhindered?
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 01/12/2008 15:02
Report abuse
