2 March 2000

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS INVENTORIES PUBLISHED

A new report published today highlights the inventories of greenhouse gas emissions for Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The report will enable each area to develop policies to secure reductions in the six gases identified.

The UK is committed under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. To monitor its progress towards meeting this reduction the UK publishes a national inventory of emissions on an annual basis.

The inventory lists sources of the 'basket of six' gases, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafloride. Sources include fuel combustion, industrial processes, agriculture, land use change and waste.

The report published today presents the results of a study to produce separate greenhouse gas emission inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Disaggregated information will help support policy decisions and will inform consideration of future emission reductions.

The UK Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory is compiled by the National Environmental Technology Centre (NETCEN) and is supported by the Department of

Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales and in Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment.

Emissions of the six gases during 1990 (in million tonnes of carbon equivalent*)

Greenhouse Gas	England	Scotland	Wales	Northern Ireland	Unallocated **	UK Total
Carbon dioxide	125.1	20.2	10.8	4.9	7.0	168.0
Methane	15.7	2.1	1.6	0.9	0.6	20.8
Nitrous oxide	14.6	1.6	0.9	0.8	0.1	18.0
HFC	3.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.1
PFC	0.43	0.08	0.11	0.00	0.00	0.62
SF6	0.17	0.01	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.20

* Million tonnes of carbon equivalent - this refers to the emissions of gases weighted according to their global warming potential (GWP). The GWP is an attempt to provide a simple measure of the relative radiative effects of the emissions of various gases.

**The 'unallocated' column refers to emissions that cannot be allocated to a particular part of the UK. The category includes emissions from offshore oil and gas, shipping and domestic aviation.

Following this scoping study, disaggregated inventories will be published annually for 1998 onwards. This will be in addition to the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

Copies of inventory are available from NETCEN, Culham, Abingdon, OX14 3DE.

Click here to view tables.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

At Kyoto in December 1997, developed countries agreed to reduce emissions of a basket of the six main greenhouse gases overall to 5.2% below 1990 levels during the period 2008-2012. The six gases covered by this legally binding target are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.

The Kyoto Protocol permits countries to undertake commitments jointly by forming a so-called 'bubble'. Under this arrangement, the European Community agreed jointly to an 8% reduction.

In June 1998, under the UK Presidency, this target was shared out between Member States. The UK agreed to take on a reduction of 12.5%. In its manifesto, the UK Government also set out a domestic goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2010.