Ross Clark Ross Clark

The fatal flaw in Boris’s ten point carbon plan

(Photo: iStock)

There is nothing wrong with the general direction of policy contained within the government’s ten point plan to cut carbon emissions, announced today. Who doesn’t want clean energy and more energy-efficient homes and vehicles?

The problem is the perverse target which lies at its heart: the legally-binding demand, laid down in the Climate Change Act, to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. This is so badly defined that the government’s ten point plan becomes really little more than a manifesto to export much of British industry, food production and power generation.

The UK’s definition of carbon emissions, as used in the Climate Change Act, covers only ‘territorial’ emissions – i.e. those spewed out physically within the confines of Britain. It excludes carbon emissions from factories in South East Asia which are making products for UK consumers. It excludes the emissions from container ships bringing those goods to Britain – at least until they reach the last few miles before docking at Felixstowe. It also excludes international aviation, emissions caused in producing and transporting imported food, and imported electricity.

To underline the importance this makes: UK carbon emissions in 2017 stood at 460 million tonnes. That was down 42 per cent from the 794 million tonnes emitted in 1990 – which makes the UK appear incredibly successful at cutting emissions. Indeed, in some ways, we have been successful: coal, once the beating heart of our electricity industry, has all but disappeared as a source of power. But once you add the carbon emissions embedded in food and goods imports, as well as those from shipping and aviation, UK emissions in 2017 were a whacking 784 million tonnes.

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