Progress on UK climate emissions will “run out of steam” without serious action to cut pollution from transport and homes, campaigners have warned.
The warning comes as the latest official figures for UK greenhouse gas emissions show that they fell by 3% in 2019 from the previous year, and are down 44% on 1990 levels.
Much of the reduction has come from the energy supply sector which has seen emissions fall by two-thirds (66%) since 1990 as coal-fired electricity generation plummeted and renewables such as wind power increased.
The shift away from fossil fuel power continues with emissions from energy supplies falling 8% in 2019 alone.
Transport is the biggest emitting sector in the UK, making up more than a quarter (27%) of emissions in 2019, followed by energy supply which accounts for just over a fifth (21%).
Published:
12:59 PM February 2, 2021
Campaigners say a ban on bottom trawling would protect wildlife and allow at-risk species to recover
- Credit: Wildlife Tours and Education
Government proposals to ban damaging fishing in parts of the North Sea off our region s coast could be the first step towards the recovery of a rich array of wildlife, conservationists have said.
Under proposed bye-laws put out for consultation by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), bottom trawling would be prohibited in four English offshore marine protected areas.
They include Dogger Bank and the Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge special areas of conservation, off the Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coasts.
North Sea oil-flaring practice found to output as much carbon as a coal plant theiet.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theiet.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated: February 1, 2021, 4:16 pm
Greenpeace dropped boulders into the Dogger Bank reserve to stop damaging fishing last year (Suzanne Plunkett/Greenpeace/PA)
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Damaging fishing practices could be banned in wildlife-rich Dogger Bank and three other protected areas of sea under plans being put out for consultation.
Under new byelaws, harmful bottom trawling would be prohibited in four of England’s offshore marine protected areas, and the use of static fishing gear such as pots or nets would be prevented in sensitive parts of two of them.
North Sea oil and gas firms are pumping out a coal plant’s worth of emissions each year through flaring and venting, an Unearthed investigation has revealed [1].
Figures obtained through Environmental Information Regulations requests show that almost 20m tonnes of CO2 equivalent were released in the five years to 2019. For the first time, the worst companies for flaring and venting can be named, with Repsol Sinopec, Total, Shell, BP and EnQuest in the top five.
Government must stop licensing new oil and gas
Campaigners have blasted the government’s failure to get emissions under control and its inadequate plans to move away from oil and gas to meet its climate targets and obligations.