Image from Committee on Climate Change report

A new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has found that despite a decline in the level of carbon emissions produced in the UK, the British carbon footprint has actually increased by 10 per cent over the last two decades, due to the rise of imported goods.

The CCC states that UK production emissions have decreased by around 19 per cent over the past twenty years, ‘limit[ing] growth in the UK’s carbon footprint’, but estimates that the overall carbon footprint has increased by 10 per cent in the same period.

UK footprint ‘80 per cent larger’ than domestic emissions

The report, ‘Reducing the UK’s carbon footprint and managing competitiveness risks’, released today (24 April), claims that as a result of the increase in imported goods, the UK is now ‘one of the world’s largest net importers of emissions, with a carbon footprint that is around 80 per cent larger than its production emissions’. This, it says, reflects the ’relatively small share of manufacturing in UK GDP’.

The reason for the decrease in domestic emissions, the report claims, was not due to government’s low carbon policies, but rather to ‘reductions in emissions from power generation and non-CO2 gases (e.g. methane from waste)’.

It added: 'There has also been a reduction in industry emissions which reflects a falling carbon intensity of production due to energy efficiency improvement and fuel switching, industrial restructuring related to broader processes of globalisation, and more recently the impact of recession. If production emissions had not been reduced, the increase in carbon footprint would have been greater.’

Furthermore, the CCC argues that risks to competitiveness arising from low carbon policies are ‘manageable within policies and funding already announced by the government’, but that these policies could increase household electricity bills by approximately £5 in 2020.

It also claims that the carbon footprint of shale gas can be comparable with natural gas – and lower than liquefied natural gas (LNG) – ‘if appropriate regulatory arrangements are in place’. However, it strongly argues that shale gas should not be seen as a replacement for low-carbon technologies, which it believes can ‘offer significant savings over fossil fuel on a lifecycle basis’.

Suggestions

In order to address the problem of imported carbon emissions, the report argues that a ‘global deal’ is necessary, which would ‘drive emissions reductions across countries and achieve climate objectives’, as well as reduce the UK’s imported emissions. Combined with cuts required by the Climate Change Act, the report believes that a global deal could reduce the UK’s carbon footprint by around 70 per cent ‘over the next decades.'’

Achieving this reduction will require a ‘step change in the pace of UK production emissions reduction – now needed urgently – and a reversal of the increase in global and imported emissions over time’, the report concludes.

Footprint size is ‘worrying’

Writing in the foreword to the report, Lord Deben, Chairman to the CCC said however, that there is no reason to bring external carbon emissions into the UK’s carbon footprint: ‘We have considered the issue of the UK’s carbon footprint and shown that it has increased over recent years, largely because of the growth in our imports. We have investigated whether the concurrent reduction in our home produced emissions could be explained by relocation of manufacturing industry.

'Our firm conclusion is that very little, if any, of that reduction results from offshoring as a result of low-carbon policies. Nonetheless, the size of our footprint is worrying and will need to be diminished.

‘We have concluded, however, that as a basis for a global deal and in the working of UK carbon budgets the present approach – measuring our emissions on a production-basis remains appropriate. It provides a more accessible comparator, with fewer uncertainties and – for carbon budgets – relates to matters which are largely under our own control.’

UK government must ‘get serious’

However, Friends of the Earth’s Energy Campaigner Guy Shrubsole, argued that UK climate targets should take into account imported carbon emissions: ”Ministers must come clean about our carbon emissions - it's no good pretending they're falling, when UK imports have actually caused them to rise.

"This reveals the truth behind attempts to blame countries like China for climate change, when a significant proportion of their emissions are produced in order to maintain our quality of life.

"UK climate targets must take account of the carbon footprint of imported products - and the government must develop an action plan to tackle it."

Nick Molho, Head of Climate and Energy Policy at environmental group WWF-UK, added: “Today’s report shows the importance of reaching a global agreement to reduce carbon emissions by 2015.

“But with two out of the next three climate change summits taking place in the EU, an ambitious global deal will only materialise if the EU’s key member states show a strong commitment to decarbonise their own economies.

“The EU and the UK cannot afford a repeat of last week’s fiasco where the European Parliament, aided by many Conservative UK MEPs, voted against a proposal to strengthen the appallingly low price of carbon in the EU.”

Carbon Omissions

The report comes a week after the Carbon Omissions event, at which Shrubsole was a speaker, that argued that the UK government must ‘get serious’ on consumption.

The event was accompanied by an short film – animated by Leo Murray – that argued that UK consumption levels were driving climate change, and that ‘the government needs to own up to our rising emissions, and take responsibility for tackling the environmental impacts of what the UK consumes’.

An organiser of the Carbon Omissions event told Resource that they hoped the project would convince the government to ‘get serious’ and ‘take responsibility on emissions’. In addition, they stated that they hoped that as a consequence, people would start to think more about the impact their consumption has on the environment.

Read the CCC’s ‘Reducing the UK’s carbon footprint and managing competitiveness risks’ report.