UK greenhouse gas emissions dip\, but transport remains biggest emitter

UK greenhouse gas emissions dip, but transport remains biggest emitter

UK emissions fell 2.7 per cent in 2017

UK GHG emissions fell 2.7 per cent overall in 2017, but latest official figures show progress on transport still stuck in the slow lane

UK greenhouse has emissions continued their downward trajectory in 2017, but the country's transport network is not getting any greener. 

That's the message from the latest official data released today by the government, which reveals UK greenhouse gases fell 2.7 per cent in 2017 compared to the previous year, largely thanks to warmer winter weather and the ongoing phase-out of coal from the electricity system.

It follows a five per cent cut in overall greenhouse gas emissions in 2016 and means that, overall, emissions have fallen 42.1 per cent since 1990. 

Under the Climate Change Act, the UK is legally required to reduce its emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 from 1990 levels. Today's results mean the UK has now officially met the second carbon budget towards under that goal, which governs emissions reductions over the 2013-2017 period.

The government said the latest figures demonstrated the UK's "proven track record in tackling climate change". 

"We've made significant progress in cleaning up the power and waste sectors while scaling up our low-carbon electricity to record highs," the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said in a statement.

Emissions from the energy supply sector dropped 7.6 per cent in 2017 to make up 24 per cent of the UK's overall greenhouse gases.

It came during a year in which clean electricity topped 50 per cent of the UK power mix for the first time in history, bolstered by a near 30 per cent share of renewables as coal power slumped 27 per cent from the previous year to record low.

However, progress on transport emissions appears to be stuck in the slow lane, with no change in its emissions between 2016 and 2017. The sector remained the UK's largest generator of greenhouse gases for the second year running, making up 27 per cent of the total.

Warmer weather in the first half of 2017, another key factor in 2017's lower greenhouse gases, saw a reduction in the use of natural gas for heating, which in turn contributed to a 4.2 per cent cut in emissions from the residential sector, which makes up 15 per cent of UK's total emissions.

Meanwhile, despite a two per cent cut in emissions, business was the UK's third largest emitter in 2017, making up 17 per cent of the overall share.

In total, the basket of seven greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol were estimated to be 460.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2017.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, however, described today's statistics as "shocking", with greenhouse gases from agriculture and waste having increased in 2017 as transport emissions continues to show little sign of abating.

"With this government's huge subsidies for fossil fuels, relentless building of new roads and runways, slashing of support for clean energy and sordid love affair with the car industry, it's incredible that overall emissions fell at all," Lucas said in a statement.

She argued ministers should be "redesigning our whole economy to achieve the dramatic drops in emissions we need". "That means launching a Green New Deal - huge government investment to guarantee a green job to everyone who wants one and accelerate the transition to clean energy, affordable and reliable public transport and a thriving natural world," the MP said.

Elsewhere, separate figures today from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the UK's greenhouse gas intensity - which measures the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in relation to the size of the economy - saw a four per cent reduction in a "continuation of a long-term trend".

ONS said almost every sector of the UK economy saw its emissions intensity fall in 2017, with the largest drop off in the energy supply sector. Agriculture, forestry and fishing, meanwhile, showed the largest emissions intensity levels in 2017.

Separate analysis from Carbon Brief yesterday also found the UK's carbon emissions are down 38 per cent since 1990.