Plans to cut emission 'inadequate'

Britain has already missed one of its emission targets and would continue to go wider off the mark unless the existing policies are revised, experts have warned.

The country has failed to realise the long-standing goal of a 20% reduction in emissions by 2010, according to data from Cambridge Econometrics.

Despite a significant, recession-triggered decline over 2008-09, emissions rose last year as homes drew more energy for heating during the severe winter weather.

Analysts said it was a sign that the policies followed by the previous government and ones outlined by the current coalition may be proving inadequate.

A drive towards low-carbon energy supplies is expected to help lower emissions by 0.5% to 0.75% every year until 2020, and by up to 1% in the five following years.

However, analysts predict that the existing policies would see the UK fall slightly short of the first two five-year targets and miss the next one from 2018-2022 by a bigger margin.

Professor Paul Ekins, of University College London, a senior consultant to Cambridge Econometrics, insisted that the failure to reach the 2010 target showed how difficult it was to put in policies that would achieve effective reductions.

He said the official estimate of growth in emissions in 2010 showed that "this Government's aspiration for green growth has yet to be realised".

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