Scotland's emissions higher than England's

NEW government figures show that carbon dioxide emissions - seen as a major cause of climate change - are almost one tonne per person per year higher in Scotland than in England.

That suggests the Scottish Executive and local authorities are not doing enough to combat change, said Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth.

But an Executive spokesman said of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) figures published yesterday: "They show it's colder in Scotland."

The main cause of carbon dioxide emissions is the use of fossil fuels by industry, estimated as 44 per cent of the total, while domestic uses account for 29 per cent, and road transport over 23 per cent.

Now for the first time Defra has estimated the level of local household, traffic and industrial carbon dioxide by reallocating emissions from power stations to where the power is actually used.

One result of these experimental statistics is an estimated Scottish annual carbon dioxide emission of 10 tonnes per person, 2.9 tonnes of that being domestic.

The figures for England are 9.07 tonnes and 2.7, for Wales 12.0 and 3.6.

Within Scotland, Falkirk's 31.5 tonnes per head total and Shetland's 30.6 tonnes topped the league - Falkirk probably because of the Grangemouth complex and Shetland because of the Sullom Voe oil terminal and associated activities.

Lowest total emissions were in East Renfrewshire 5.6 tonnes, East Dunbartonshire 5.7, West Dunbartonshire 6.2 and Glasgow city 7.0.

The figures also indicate that rural homes often produce twice as much carbon dioxide as urban ones because high-occupancy flat blocks are more fuel-efficient. Detached houses tend to leak heat and have more electric and other equipment.

Highest per-head domestic emission levels were found in Teesdale, at 3.9 tonnes, followed by Uttlesford, 3.7, and Shetland, 3.6, with Perth and Kinross at 3.4.

Lowest levels were found in Camden, at 1.6 tonnes, and Eastbourne, at 1.8 . Availability of different fuels, climate, relative wealth, housing type and energy efficiency are factors which help explain varying regional rates.

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said: "Scotland needs to put greater effort into tackling climate change. These figures demonstrate the vast scope for domestic energy saving with almost a 30 per cent difference in average performance between the best and worst local authority areas."

He added: "The Government is right to urge householders to do their bit to cut emissions - but the Scottish Executive and Scottish local authorities need to help make that possible. We need to see year-on-year cuts in emissions and Executive funding redirected from pollution-generating projects to schemes that will do that."

The data also shows that road transport is a major source of emissions, he said, and the Executive must help individuals and business cut transport emissions instead of building new roads.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive confirmed in a statement a colleague's earlier first reaction by saying: "Scottish per capita figures are worse than England primarily because of lower temperatures in Scotland and that the Defra data was not directly comparable with our recent inventory."