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The Assembly Government has set a baseline against which its target can be measured and also identified areas where it can make a difference: transport, homes and buildings, businesses, the public sector, waste, agriculture and land use.

Launching the consultation on Stage One of the Climate Change Strategy for Wales Ms Davidson said:

Climate change is the most serious threat facing Wales and the world. That is why the Welsh Assembly Government is acting now to address the causes of climate change by cutting emissions.

Wales needs to prepare for a world in which a cost is attached to greenhouse gas emissions. While taking action will have a price, the risks of inaction are even greater.

This consultation sets out for the first time how we propose to measure our target and where we see the greatest opportunities for emission reduction in Wales.

It sets out the challenge we face and the approach we plan to take.  Action here will complement, and be reinforced by, actions being taken by the UK Government and the EU.

Defining the 3% target

The consultation launched today sets out in greater detail the definition of the 3% target to cut greenhouse gases set out in the ‘One Wales’ agreement.

The target relates to emissions of six greenhouse gases.

It will include all ‘direct’ greenhouse gas emissions in Wales except those from heavy industry and power generation, which are being broadly defined as those installations covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).  

This means that the direct emissions from transport, the residential sector, the public sector, waste, agriculture and land use change will be included, along with all business and industrial emissions that are not subject to the EU ETS. Additionally, we will be including the emissions resulting from electricity consumption in each sector.

Setting a baseline to measure the 3% target

The Welsh Assembly Government will use the disaggregated greenhouse gas inventory, which reports Wales-specific emissions, as the main data source to set the baseline and measure progress.  

To measure the target, we will compare the relevant emissions in each year from 2011 onwards to a baseline.  This baseline will be an average of the relevant emissions between 2006 and 2010.

Progress against the target will be assessed by a simple comparison between the level of emissions and the baseline.

Related Links

http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/environment/climatestage1/?lang=en