Find out more information on current government policy concerning sustainability and sustainable design
In 1999 the UK Government launched a national strategy for sustainable development. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) now produces an annual progress report on this. The strategy does not just focus on the UK, but includes issues of poverty reduction in developing countries, linking to the Government's explicit aim to bring ethical issues into foreign policy.
The government has a target to generate 10% of the UK’s power from renewable sources by 2010. It has also introduced ‘renewables obligation certificates’, whereby power utilities have to generate some of their electricity from renewable resources, currently 4.3% but rising to 15% by 2015. Utilities which don’t have wind farms or other sources of renewable energy can buy credits from those which have.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the UK agreed to ensure that emissions of greenhouse gases were at least 12.5 percent lower than base year levels.
In more depth
Discover what progress the UK has made towards meeting its
Kyoto target for 2008-2012
Kyoto Protocol emissions targets for the EU for 2008-2012 are an 8% reduction to a baseline year (usually 1990). The 2002 reductions amount to 2.9% but there’s hope that the EU emissions trading scheme (which began February 2005) will help improve things. The UK, France, Germany and Sweden are the only EU countries on track to meet their targets. Annual European Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2002 and Inventory Report 2004, European Environment Agency (EEA).