Experts Urge the UK to Make Greater Cuts in Carbon Emissions

Experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research have announced that the climate change reports used to set Britain’s first carbon budget is “naïvely optimistic”. They have warned that the advised target to cut UK carbon emissions 34% by 2020 will not be strict enough to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.

This comes after 2,500 climate change experts from 80 countries attended a 3-day conference on global warming in Copenhagen last week. At the conference, experts agreed that both the rate and severity of climate change was much greater than previously thought. They also expressed frustration at politicians for failing to take on board the seriousness of the problem.

The Tyndall Centre report analyzed the conclusions of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which said in December that ministers should aim to cut UK carbon emissions 34% by 2020, as part of worldwide efforts to limit temperature rise to 2C.

The Tyndall scientists said the committee’s report is “inevitably and significantly compromised” and claimed that the committee was forced to use “highly optimistic and sometimes unclear assumptions” to hit the 2C target.

The Tyndall scientists have called for the UK government to aim to cut emissions 42% by 2020 and stressed the need for cuts come from the economy, rather than buying offsets abroad. These proposals were backed by more than 90 Labour MPs – including four ministerial aides – in a parliamentary petition.

Ministers are due to announce Britain’s first legally binding carbon budget next month.

Read more about this story on the Guardian News Website and the BBC News Website

Information can also be found on the The Friends Of The Earth Website, who commissioned the study with the Co-op Bank.