UK CO2 emissions are rising

A new report has laid bare the UK's pretensions to have cut greenhouse gas emissions over recent years.

Advisers warn the UK's contribution to climate change is growing

Ministers have claimed global leadership in reducing CO2 emissions and urged other nations to follow suit.

But the official Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that the UK's total contribution towards heating the climate has actually increased.

This is because the UK is importing goods that produce CO2 in other countries.

The UK has been cutting emissions at home, but it has been importing more goods from other countries, pushing up CO2 emissions there.

The UK is second highest importer in the world of these so-called "embodied" emissions.

Each individual in the UK is responsible for double the imported emissions of someone in Germany, which has kept its manufacturing base.

Total emissions target?

The committee said although production of CO2 is down 20% in the past two decades, the overall trend is up 10% because the cuts in production emissions have been outweighed by CO2 in the form of imported goods.

Some commentators have argued that the UK should switch to declaring its total emissions, instead of its production emissions.

The committee rejected this option as it is hard to quantify imported emissions and difficult to influence other nations' climate policies.

The CCC's chief executive, David Kennedy, told the BBC that it would be a mistake to target imported emissions in official analysis.

"High levels of imported emissions reflect the need for emissions reductions in other countries if climate objectives are to be achieved," he said.

"We should focus on reducing emissions produced in the UK, and proactively supporting an international agreement to reduce global emissions, following which our imported emissions would fall."

Mr Kennedy said border tariffs on CO2 embodied in imported goods should not be ruled out as an interim measure while the world struggles towards a global agreement.

The report did contain some good news on climate policy for the government.

Some lobbyists have argued that UK's unilateral climate targets are forcing up energy prices and driving manufacturing jobs abroad, but the committee found this false.

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