3/10/2005

New figures show that the Welsh Assembly Government is failing to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas causing climate change, claimed Friends of the Earth Cymruu today.

They say this was despite a commitment by the Assembly to support a UK target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010.

According to Government data released this month, emissions of carbon dioxide in Wales in 2003 were higher than in 1990. In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland there had been a slight fall during this period. All figures, though, demonstrate that the UK is falling well short of the 20 percent target.

In Wales, there have been increases in carbon dioxide emissions from power generation, transport and homes, while there have been reductions in commerce and industry.

Although there has been a decrease in some of the other greenhouse gases,such as methane, environmentalists argue that making big reductions in carbon dioxide is the key to successfully tackling the problem of a changing climate.

Gordon James, Assembly Campaigner for Friends of the Earth Cymru, said: "Reductions in the overall level of greenhouse gas emissions is very welcome but substantially reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the main battle and we are losing it.

"Fine words on climate change from the Welsh Assembly Government are not being matched by action. Too many of the Assembly's policies are still little more than 'business as usual' with a few green edges added.

"And the situation in the Assembly is not helped by some members of the Conservative party jumping onto the ill-informed wind-bashing bandwagon.

"Scientific evidence is now regularly spelling out the severity of the problem we face, warning that we have already passed the point where some climatic changes are irreversible. Politicians of all parties need to wake up to the threat posed by a changing climate and have the courage to take tough decisions that will halt this complacent drift to disaster.

"There needs to be far more emphasis on saving rather than wasting energy, on traffic reduction and public transport, and on developing cleaner sources such as wind, water, solar and biofuel energy. There would be no place for a Gwent levels motorway or for inefficient LNG power stations in such a
strategy."