Great Britain still hopes to cut greenhouse gas by 20 percent but not sure how

Britain still aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2010, but isn't certain how it will do it, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday.

Photo: Great Britain still hopes to cut greenhouse gas by 20 percent but not sure how

"We are not giving up on our 20 percent target. What we are not able to do is say that we can set out the precise path to it today," said Margaret Beckett, who heads the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

In an interview with British Broadcasting radio, Beckett said Britain would succeed in reducing emissions by 12.5 percent from 1990 levels as set out by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. She spoke hours before the release of a report on the government's progress toward meeting its climate change commitments.

The department's report proposed stricter industrial emission limits and building regulations, encouraging the use of biofuels, promoting household energy efficiency and encouraging small-scale electric generators.

These measures would drop carbon dioxide emissions 15 to 18 percent below 1990 levels, the report said.

The 20 percent target was set voluntarily by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.

"We can certainly move a very long way towards it, and this is not the last word," Beckett said.

"We have drawn together as many of our proposals as we can into the review we will publish today, but there is more to come. That is why I say we are not giving up on our 20 percent target", reports the AP.

D.M.