Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In relative terms, the policy response at the UK level has been extremely slow in development.
Top-down target setting has gradually produced more stringent policy targets, but in all cases
international aviation is excluded. In the UK, the Kyoto Protocol (1997) seeks to achieve a
has recently been extended to 2017, but negotiations are still ongoing for a replacement
agreement and this has been very difficult to achieve (Copenhagen 2009 and Cancun 2010).
A more ambitious domestic target has been adopted, an 80 per cent CO2 emissions reduction
target on a 1990 base, by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (2010). The new
Climate Change Act (2008) means this has become legally binding. However, there are
concerns that the commitment to action on climate change at the national level is weakening,
and the targets - conveniently set a long time in the future with few interim milestones - can
quite easily be delayed or broken at a later stage.
The current levels of CO2 emissions (2010) for London are around 48 MtCO2 (million
tonnes of CO2) (Transport for London, 2011). Achieving large reductions in CO2 emissions,
whilst retaining economic and quality of life goals, is likely to be difficult, even with a static
population and employment base. Add in large population and economic growth and the task
to reduce aggregate emissions becomes considerable. London's population is expected to grow
from 7.5 million in 2006 to 9 million in 2050 (an increase of 23 per cent), and the economy
by between 100 per cent and 150 per cent over the same period, notwithstanding some recent
'fluctuations' (Greater London Authority, 2009; Greater London Authority, 2003). Within
London (2008), the transport sector accounts for 22 per cent of ground-based transport CO2
Figure 3.16
Congestion charging. Private cars are charged at £10 per day to enter the central area, reducing
the number of cars in the centre of London, improving conditions for pedestrian and cyclists,
and also giving more space to buses.
