THE UK has started to deliver on its promise to lead the world in tackling global warming.
On Monday it became the first large industrial economy to announce caps on emissions of carbon dioxide by large industrial operations such as power stations, oil refineries and cement works. It fixed average reduction targets of 16 per cent by 2010.
The move will give a boost to energy companies that switch to renewable energy sources such as wind power. These companies will be able to sell spare 鈥減ollution permits鈥� to others that cannot or will not meet the target unaided. The British government says it expects these permits to cost around 拢10 per tonne of carbon.
Advertisement
All European Union governments are supposed to submit their own industry targets by the end of March as part of the EU鈥檚 plans to cut emissions by 8 per cent. EU-wide trading of carbon permits will begin next year. But Monday鈥檚 announcement makes the UK the first country to lay its cards on the table.
Earlier this month the government鈥檚 chief scientist, David King, said the UK was committed to cutting emissions by a further 10 per cent each decade till 2050.