UK industry

pollution still a major problem

The governments attempts to limit UK carbon emissions are failing. The Guardian newspaper today identified five companies in the UK that produce more carbon emissions than all motorists on UK roads combined (and given the poor state of public transport, that's a lot of motorists).

One electricity generator (EON UK, owner of Powergen) was alone responsible for 26.4m tonnes of CO2 last year. The figures for 2005 identify five companies as the main polluters. Between them EON UK[power], RWE Npower[power], Drax[power], Corus[steel], and EDF[power] produced more than 100m tones of carbon dioxide.

UK motorists pollute to the tune of 91m tonnes each year.

In response a spokeswoman for EON said: "We are one of the leading green generators and invest more per customer in green energy than any other major supplier in the UK." While a spokesman for RWE Npower said: "We're one of the UK's biggest power generators, so of course we're going to have more emissions than, say, a single power station somewhere. The test of 'green-ness' is how much you are changing."

However, without an enforceable structure for change there is little real incentive for big power generators to change quickly. A 1% increase in efficiency at the Drax power plant in Yorkshire (the single biggest polluting site) would save the typical carbon emissions of 21,000 households.

The figures obtained by the Guardian newspaper are a result of the first phase of the EU-wide carbon trading scheme to limit Europes heaviest polluters. However, UK companies have failed to stay within their cap and have continued to lobby the government for laxer targets.


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