UK urged to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050

Tag : carbon

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should increase its climate targets toan 80 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared toits present 60 percent goal, its chief adviser on climate changesaid on Tuesday.
The higher target should apply across all sectors of the UK economyand would cost between 1 and 2 percent of gross domestic product in2050, said the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises thegovernment on how it can meet its climate change goals.
The new goal would also apply to all the main manmade greenhousegases rather than just carbon dioxide, under the present target,the CCC Chair Adair Turner said in a letter to the newly-installedSecretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband.
The CCC said Britain needed to reduce its emissions further thanunder current proposals, as part of a strategy to halve globalemissions by 2050.
"Meeting an 80 percent target or higher will be challenging butfeasible," the letter said.
The target could be met by improving energy efficiency in buildingsand industry, replacing fossil fuel-fired plants with renewabletechnology, nuclear power or carbon capture and storage (CCS), thecommittee said.
Other measures could include improving fuel efficiency in thetransport sector, increasing the use of biomass in boilers andcombined heat and power and using CCS in the cement, iron and steelindustries.
The CCC said that the higher target should ideally includeinternational aviation and shipping but said problems measuringthese sectors' emissions meant that binding domestic targets shouldexclude these, at least initially.
The committee will release its full report on the new target andthe government's first three carbon budgets on Dec 1.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by James Jukwey)