UK greenhouse gas emissions rose by nearly 5% in 2021 due to impact of Covid pandemic
Compared to 2019, however, the year before the pandemic hit, UK greenhouse gas emissions were around 5 per cent lower
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Your support makes all the difference.Planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions were nearly 5 per cent higher last year compared to 2020 reflecting the impact of the pandemic on UK emissions.
Compared to 2019, however, the year before the pandemic hit, UK greenhouse gas emissions were around 5 per cent lower.
The statistics released by the government Thursday are provisional, but nonetheless offer an insight into the state of affairs on the country’s emissions.
When compared to 1990 levels, last year the UK’s emissions were some 47 per cent lower. Under the UK’s legally binding target to reach net zero by 2050, the country must cut its emissions by at least 100 per cent of the pollution it put into the atmosphere in 1990.
While this means the UK is close to halfway there, the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee has warned that the country is not on track to complete its next step of reducing emissions by 51 per cent by 2025.
The increase in 2021 is primarily due to the uptick in the use of road transport as nationwide lockdowns were eased, along with increases in emissions from power stations and the residential sector, the government said.
Last year, carbon dioxide emissions from transport rose by around 10 per cent, accounting for almost half of the overall increase from 2020. Carbon dioxide emissions from power stations rose by about 9 per cent due to an increase in demand for electricity and the first increase in the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation from power stations since 2012, the government said.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the residential sector increased by around 6 per cent due to colder weather in 2021, it added.
In 2020, transport was the largest emitting sector in the UK, responsible for almost a quarter of emissions. It remained the largest emitting sector in 2021.
The update comes ahead of the government’s delayed energy security strategy in which Boris Johnson will lay out his plans to shift away from Russian fossil fuels and to ease soaring energy bills.
Mr Johnson has indicated that his plan will include an expansion of renewable and nuclear power, but will also include energy from UK fossil fuels.
Globally power generation and transport together accounted for over two thirds of total emissions in 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. How the UK produces it’s energy going forward will be a key factor in the amount of greenhouse gases the country continues to emit.
One area of apparent contention in recent days has been over onshore wind power in England.
In his latest remarks on the subject on Wednesday, Mr Johnson appeared to indicate that he was in favor of offshore wind rather than onshore.
Green groups have called on the government to “unblock” onshore wind in England pointing out that it is clean, cheap and popular.
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