Facts and figures about the United Kingdom and climate change.
 | Facts from the Allianz/WWF Climate ScorecardGreenhouse gas emissions in the UK by sector and energy sources (Graphic: Allianz/WWF) |
Britain's Carbon Footprint at a Glance
Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Population: 60.6 million people
Estimated annual CO2 emissions (UNFCCC): around 562.4 million tons (2004, 7th largest worldwide)
10 FACTS ABOUT BRITAIN AND CLIMATE CHANGE
01. UK emissions of CO2 currently account for about two percent of the global total.
02. British households create an average of around six tons of CO2 emissions each year - enough to fill six hot air balloons 10 meters in diameter.
03. By 2020, London could see twice as many days exceed temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in London each summer. By 2050, there will be between three to five times as many hot days in the British capital.
04. Across the country, the UK Environment Agency spends around 500 million pounds on flood defenses. Authorities expect this figure to double over the next 20 years.
05. Nine out of ten hottest years in British history have occurred in the last 18 years.
06. Air travel, one of the most carbon-intensive human activities, is expected to increase more in Britain in the coming decades. Passenger movements at UK airports are expected to more than double from around 200 million pounds per year to around 470 million by 2030.
07. The autumn and winter floods in 2000 in the UK were the worst in 270 years in some areas. Flooding that year cost the farming industry more than 700 million euros.
08. Since 1998, the cost of repairing damage from extreme weather events and floods in the UK has increased by 60 percent.
09. The growing season for plants in central England is now a month longer than it was in 1900.
10. Average sea level around the UK is now about 10cm higher than it was in 1900.
Sources: WWF-UK, Friends of the Earth, BBC, DEFRA
editor: Valdis Wish
oublishing date: July 5, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Readers' Comments:
Thanks for an informative site. I am a director of www.anglopackaging.com and we are always looking for informative links from our own enviro page. The packaging industry continiues to achieve lower carbon footprint of packaging products and operations, although in fact its net CO2 emission impact is marginal compared with automotive, air and domestic emmissions. Yet packaging continues to be the convenient "demon". When the next ice shelf splits off the Antartic ice cap, will we still be saying "This shouldn't have happened, we kept re-usable carrierbags in our 4wd".
Anonymous Reader, UK
