The Carbon Dinosaur in the UK

Dates in the UK
>>	11 June 04 City of London, Trafalgar Square: The dinosaur has been nicknamed 'Digby' after Digby Jones, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry who has proved himself a dinosaur by undermining Government's plans to control greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Digby Jones has also been awarded a Climate Killer Oscar. MORE
>>	8 June 04 Edinburgh, Calton Hill: The Carbon Dinosaur on Scottish national monument Calton Hill, gazing along the Firth of Forth towards two of the UK's dirtiest coal-fired power stations. FoE Scotland issued a warning call to Scotland for not becoming a safe haven for Europe's Carbon Dinosaurs. Next day: the dinosaur at the Cockenzie power station -- UK's dirtiest coal power plant1
To find out more about the Carbon Dinosaur in the UK and when and where to meet it, please refer to the contact details on the left.

In the UK, the biggest source of CO2 is from burning fossil fuels - like coal, gas and oil - in power stations. The UK is the second largest CO2 emitter in Europe, after Germany, and power stations account for 27% of Carbon Dioxide emissions. Our coal fired power stations are some of the oldest and most inefficient in Europe. In electricity generating terms - they're prehistoric. In the 1990s, our emissions fell as electricity companies switched from coal to gas. Recently this trend has reversed as gas prices have risen making coal more economic. Burning coal produces 2-3 times more CO2 than gas and currently 35% of our electricity is produced by burning coal in power stations.

This reversal is reflected in political developments. Initially the UK Government had the, relatively ambitious plan, to cut the amount of CO2 produced by 20% by 2010. However after industry pressure this was scaled back first to 16.3% and most recently to 15.1%.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has alarmed environmental groups by giving his backing to the Climate Group, which brings together financial institutions, business leaders and politicians to identify "best practice" on carbon emissions and climate change. This influential lobby includes Carbon Dinosaurs such as Shell and BP and demonstrates their growing influence in deciding the future of climate change policy in the UK. "The sad reality is that we are pretty much where we were back in 1997," said Friends of the Earth, director Tony Jupiter "We are only one fifth of one per cent lower in our carbon dioxide emissions than we were when Labour came to power."

The transport industry is another source of concern. Earlier this year the government announced plans to further expand aviation in the UK . These moves have the intended aim strengthening the UK as a hub for the industry.
If carbon emissions are to be reduced then their needs to be a viable alternative. In this respect much more also need to be done in terms developing innovation for renewable energy. The current targets is to generating 10% of all British electricity from renewables by 2010 and 20% by 2020. Scotland has set a more ambitious target of 40% by 2020. Over the next 7 years wind power will produce 7,000MW in the UK however other renewable energies such as biomass, solar and tidal power have been neglected . More work needs to be done to improve efficiency but also develop other sources af renewable energy.

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