Instead, the Climate Change Programme review launched by the government projects that new and existing policies will deliver a cut of 15-18% by the end of the decade. While this still exceeds the 12.5% requirement set out in the Kyoto Protocol, it is considerably short of expactations.
Environment secretary Margaret Beckett said the government was not giving up on meeting the 20% goal, but said more had to be done to reach it. Beckett blamed higher than anticipated levels of economic growth and recent rises in global energy prices, which have boosted coal-fired generation, for the failure.
Total UK carbon dioxide emissions for 2004 hit 153 million tonnes.
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