Abstract
The UK’s commitment to the Framework Convention on Climate Change obliges the country to return its emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to 1990 levels by the year 2000. On the basis of current trends this requires a reduction of 10 million tonnes of carbon relative to baseline emissions. Earlier the Government had, in its White Paper on the environment, unambiguously endorsed the use of market based instruments to achieve this objective. But in the event the measures which were chosen included imposing VAT on domestic energy, increasing road fuel duty as well as information campaigns and moral persuasion.
This material may not be cited, reproduced or quoted without the permission of the authors. Helpful comments made by participants at the 1993 Colloquium on UK Environmental Policy in the 1990s hosted by the University of Newcastle, and other members of CSERGE, are gratefully acknowledged. All errors remain the responsibility of the authors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barker, T. (1993), ‘VAT the Imperfect Way to Tackle Carbon Dioxide Emissions’, New Scientist, 1866, 6.
Barker, T., Baylis, S. and Maben, P. (1993), ‘A UK Carbon Energy Tax: The Macroeconomic Effects’, Energy Policy, 21, 296–308.
Brown, K. and Adger, N. (1993), ‘Estimating National Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Climate Change Convention’, Global Environmental Change, 3, 149–58.
Crawford, I., Smith, S. and Well, S. (1993), VAT On Domestic Energy, Institute of Fiscal Studies Commentary No. 39.
DoE (1988), Possible Impacts of Climate Change on the Natural Environment in the United Kingdom (London: DoE).
DoE (1991), The Potential Effects of Climate Change in the United Kingdom (London: HMSO).
DTI (1991), Energy Paper 59: Energy Related Carbon Emissions in Possible Future Scenarios in the United Kingdom (London: DTI.)
Giles, C. and Ridge, M. (1993), ‘The Impact on Households of the 1993 Budget and the Council Tax’, Fiscal Studies 14, 1–20.
HMSO (1990) This Common Inheritance (London: HMSO) Cmnd 1200.
HMSO (1991) This Common Inheritance: The First Year Report (London: HMSO) Cmnd 1655.
HMSO (1992) This Common Inheritance: The Second Year Report (London: HMSO) Cmnd 2068.
HMSO (1994) Climate Change: The UK Programme (London: HMSO) Cmnd 2427.
Hughes, P. (1990), Transport and the Greenhouse Effect (Milton Keynes: The Open University Press).
IPCC (1990), Climate Change: The Scientific Assessment. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Maddison, D. (1994), ‘Is the Climate of Central England Changing?’, The Optimal Control of Global Warming, PhD Dissertation, Strathclyde University (forthcoming).
Newbery, D. (1993), ‘The Impact of EC Environmental Policy on British Coal’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 9, 1–28.
Pearce, D. W. and Maddison, D. (1993), ‘Transport and the Environment’, in Pearce D. W., Turner R. K., O’Riordan T., Adger N., Atkinson G., Brisson I., Brown K., Dubourg R., Frankhauser S., Jordan A., Maddison D., Moran D., Powell J., Blueprint 3 (London: Earthscan).
Smith, S. (1992), ‘The Distributional Consequences of Taxes on Energy as The Carbon Content of Fuels,’ European Economy, special edition, 1241–68.
Thatcher, M. (1988), Royal Society News, 4.
Tol. R. (1994), The Climate Fund, The Institute for Environmental Studies (Mimeo: The Free University of Amsterdam).
Tol, R. and de Vos, A. (1994), ‘Greenhouse Statistics: A Different Look at Climate Research’, Theoretical and Applied Meteorology (forthcoming).
UNCED (1992), Earth Summit 92 (London: The Regency Press Corporation).
Virley, S. (1993), ‘The Effect of Fuel Price Increases on Road Transport CO2 Emissions’, Transport Policy, 1, 1, 43–8.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1995 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Maddison, D., Pearce, D. (1995). The UK and Global Warming Policy. In: Gray, T.S. (eds) UK Environmental Policy in the 1990s. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24237-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24237-5_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-62121-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24237-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)