Official says UK's CO2 reduction claims are 'unsatisfactory'

The UK government’s accounting of carbon dioxide emissions reductions are “unsatisfactory” and likely to mislead non-experts about just how much Britain has actually cut its carbon footprint, according to Sir Michael Scholar, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority.

In a letter to Tim Yeo, chair of the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, Scholar notes that nearly one-third of the UK’s claimed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 are the result of carbon credits purchases rather than actual cuts.

Without counting carbon credits, the UK’s emissions dropped by 8.5 per cent, rather than the reported 12.8 per cent.

Scholar writes, “While we understand the case for including these figures in the Release, the Code of Practice requires the Release to ‘provide information on the quality and reliability of statistics in relation to the range of potential uses … ‘ In this case the figures mentioned are, in our view, likely to be used by non-expert observers to judge progress in reducing CO2 Emissions within the UK. For reasons including those set out in your correspondence with the Secretary of State we regard the quoted figures (and particularly the percentage change) as unsatisfactory in the context of that use.”

He also writes, “We hope that in future Releases in this series the statistics will be accompanied by enough clear explanation to guide the reader to a secure interpretation. On that basis, we would not suggest that the figures should be withdrawn, but rather that their presentation be improved in the way I have indicated.”