UK ''can slash 80% of emissions by 2050''

The UK has the ability to cut its carbon emissions by as much as 80 per cent by 2050, a joint report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), WWF and RSPB has claimed.

The research indicated that the government''s current target of a 60 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 is no longer enough, because it is based on outdated science and also excludes the UK''s share of emissions from the international aviation industry.

It states that an 80 per cent cut by 2050 would mean a slow down in economic growth of between two and three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but claims that the economy would still triple in size and reach the same level as it would otherwise have done by spring 2052, less than two years later.

"The government''s current target for carbon reductions of 60 per cent by 2050 is inadequate," commented Lisa Harker, co-director of the IPPR. "If we are to play our part in preventing dangerous climate change, we need to be aiming for 80 per cent. "

Published ahead of the second reading of the Climate Change Bill, the report called for a switch to low-carbon technologies in the electricity sector, improvements to surface transport emissions through increased vehicle efficiency and control over the growth of aviation.