Cars buck falling CO2 emissions trend

Britain's carbon emissions have sunk to the level last seen in 1890 – the year before penalties were first awarded in football. In 2017, CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels fell by 2.6%. This was mainly driven by a 19% decline in coal use. It follows a 5.8% fall in 2016, which saw a record 52% drop in coal use, according to the green website Carbon Brief. The figure is doubly striking as emissions from cars have been going up. The analysis is based on government energy-use figures. The government will publish its own CO₂ estimates later in March. Last year, Carbon Brief's preliminary assessment of CO₂ proved accurate. This year’s shows that the UK's total CO₂ emissions are currently 38% below 1990 levels. They have been decreasing steadily since 2012, with big falls in 2014 and 2016. The decline continued in 2017. Oil and petroleum use increased slightly, though not enough to offset the falls in CO₂ associated with other fuels.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43308567

Posted by admin on Mar 7 2018. Filed under News at Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry