UK must cut gas emissions by a third by 2020

The Committee on Climate Change, a new advisory body to government established under the terms of the Climate Change Act, has called on government to commit to reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases (GHGs) by at least 34% by 2020.

According to the report, Building a low-carbon economy, the committee said that moving away from fossil fuels, improving energy efficiency, reducing transport emissions and purchasing offset credits would all contribute to reducing the nation's emission levels.

The committee also stated that this amount should be increased to 42% once a global deal to reduce emissions is achieved.

Lord Turner, chair of the CCC, said: “Climate change poses a grave threat to human welfare, the environment and the economy. We need to act now, in the UK and as part of a global agreement, to significantly reduce our emissions. The reductions required can be achieved at a very low cost to our economy: the cost of not achieving the reductions, at national and global level, will be far greater”.