Intro :

Climate change in the UK, as in a lot of western countries, is a more and more important concern for the public opinion, especially because of the action of the Medias and the succession of warmer than average years. They now consider climate change as one of the most significant threat to world well-being, and 81% of them are concerned about this issue. Therefore, it obliged politicians to react and to put forward some solutions to tackle the problem.

UK global leadership aspirations on climate change:

The Uk concern about climate change became evident in 2003, with the Energy White paper detailing the new energy policy to ensure that energy, the environment and economic growth would be properly and sustainably integrated with goals like 10% of electricity generation by 2010 and 20% by 2020.

It was reinforced by the publishing of the 2007 Energy white paper: Meeting the Energy Challenge which outlines the Government’s international and domestic strategy for responding to the carbon emission and the replacement of the declining production from North sea oil and gas.

The Climate change act 2008 was a big step: The UK has passed legislation which introduces the world’s first long-term legally binding framework to tackle the dangers of climate change. A legally binding target of at least an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, to be achieved through action in the UK and abroad, with also a reduction in emissions of at least 34 percent by 2020. There were others measures such as: - A carbon budgeting system which caps emissions over five-year periods. - The creation of the Committee on Climate Change - a new independent, expert body to advise the Government on the level of carbon budgets and on where cost-effective savings can be made. - The inclusion of International aviation and shipping emissions in the Act, which was controversial. Etc.

The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, published in 2009, details the actions