The UK has reduced its carbon footprint more than any of its G7 counterparts since 1992, while recording stronger economic growth than any other member of the seven-country bloc.
The findings will be published today in a report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation that supports debate on energy and climate change issues in the UK.
Data from 2014 – the most recent available – suggests per capita carbon emissions in the UK have fallen 33% since the UN Convention of Climate Change was signed 25 years ago.
Over the same period, UK GDP per capita increased by 130%.
The report highlighted the rise of renewable energy in displacing coal-fired generation as an important factory in the UK’s emission reductions.
ECIU director Richard Black, said: “It’s really time to slay once and for all the old canard that cutting carbon emissions means economic harm.”
“If you have consistent policy making and cross-party consensus, it’s perfectly possible to get richer and cleaner at the same time,” he added.
The report contested the notion the UK had cut its emissions at home by exporting them to the developing world, saying that imported emissions are almost exactly the same as in 1997.
Image: sxc
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