Imported goods make ‘carbon footprint’ grow

The amount of emissions the country has produced domestically, from transport, power, heating and manufacturing in the UK, has fallen by around 20 per cent over two decades, the Committee on Climate Change said.

But increased imports of goods from overseas, which create emissions during their manufacture in other countries, are pushing up the overall total of greenhouse gases for which the UK is responsible, a new report said.

Concerns that policies which aim to cut carbon emissions in the UK are pushing manufacturing overseas are unfounded, however, the report revealed. The hike in imported emissions is down to rising incomes which increased demand for consumer goods that, as a result of globalisation, are mostly manufactured elsewhere.

The report also looked at the risk of pushing abroad industries which use large amounts of electricity, as a result of policies to cut emissions that will drive up energy bills. It found that the risk is already being managed by Government policies, which are expected to increase household electricity bills by just £5 by 2020.