UPDATE: Dieter Helm has published an excellent report attempting to answer this question, called "Too good to be true? The UK”s Climate Change Record, download it here.
The ESRC”s Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE) has just published an important initial analysis of the UK”s carbon footprint based on final consumption. From our research on CAT”s Zero Carbon Britain project we”re very aware that further research in this field is casino online sorely needed.
Abstract
The UK Climate Change Bill proposes to establish legally binding targets for a 60% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. This paper discusses the challenges posed by measuring progress towards this target. It takes as a premise that the conventional production-based accounting framework, enshrined in the UNFCCC emissions accounting guidelines, is inappropriate for this task because it fails to account for the carbon
