Britain's role as a leader in the fight against climate change has suffered a devastating blow with the Government forced to admit that they will fail to meet a key target to cut greenhouse gas pollution. The target to cut emissions from industry and transport to 20% below their 1990 levels by 2010 will be missed by a wide margin, despite an intensive year long review of the climate change programme which was designed to bring this target into reach. The Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett confirmed that measures are now being projected to cut UK carbon dioxide pollution by 15-18%, blaming recent rises in carbon emissions on economic growth and increased energy prices which have forced power generators to switch from gas to coal. The Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth described this as a "grim admission of failure on what was meant to be a top priority".
The Prime Minister Tony Blair has attempted to regain the initiative by telling a climate change conference in New Zealand that he plans to push for a new international framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol, when it expires in 2012. However, it remains to be seen whether they can recover from this damaging failure; Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, has a more demanding carbon reduction target than the UK.
