UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

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CHAPTER ELEVEN
Monitoring and review
Tracking progress
1. The UK reports on its greenhouse gas and
specifically carbon dioxide emissions through a
number of mechanisms at international, EU and
domestic level.
International
2. Progress towards achieving UK and international
climate change objectives is monitored through
the UK’s greenhouse gas inventory. The
Government submits the inventory annually to
the UNFCCC and to the EU Monitoring
Mechanism. In addition, the UK is required to
submit to the UNFCCC at regular intervals
national communications that report on action
being taken to tackle climate change. The UK will
submit its 4th National Communication (4NC)
in April 2006.
EU
3. Information on Member States’ projections must
be reported to the European Commission on a
biannual basis, by 15 June, with the next report
due in 2007. The previous year’s results on the
EU emissions trading scheme will be published
in the first half of each year, and will set out
what this means for progress towards our Kyoto
target and domestic carbon dioxide goal.
Domestic
4. Updates on PSA delivery plans (including
departmental PSAs relating to climate change) are
submitted biannually to HM Treasury, and
monitoring notes to departmental management
boards quarterly.
5. There are a number of different sets of
indicators which already record progress on
greenhouse gas emissions and in other relevant
areas. These include sustainable development
indicators, reported on annually by Defra, and
energy sector indicators, reported on by DTI. DTI
also publishes provisional estimates of carbon
dioxide emissions every March.
6. Progress on emission reductions is monitored
through the Sustainable Energy Policy
Network (SEPN), which operates through a
Ministerial Committee, an Advisory Board,
Strategy Group, working-level group and
Interdepartmental Analysts’ Group (IAG). The IAG
provides cross-cutting analytical support to SEPN
including: reviewing analytical requirements
feeding into the workstreams; advising on
potential gaps; identifying cross-cutting
requirements and drawing links between
analytical work conducted in support of
workstreams; and providing a measure of
peer review.
7. Two Cabinet Committees have climate change
as part of their business:
• the Cabinet Committee on Energy and the
Environment (EE) has a remit to “develop
the Government's energy and environmental
policies, to monitor the impact on sustainable
development of the Government's policies,
and to consider issues of climate change,
security of supply and affordability of energy”;
and
• the Cabinet Committee on Sustainable
Development in Government (EE(SD))
has a remit to “improve the Government's
contribution to sustainable development
through the conduct of its business, including
through consideration of departmental
sustainable development action plans; and to
report as necessary to the Committee on
Energy and the Environment.”
8. In addition to these existing processes, the
Government will introduce a new annual report
to Parliament on the level of greenhouse gas
emissions in the UK and the steps the
Government has been taking to reduce these.
The report will include data from the existing
sets described above, as well as any additional
information needed for it to provide
comprehensive coverage. It will also set out an
indicative work plan for the following year, the
basis for which will be announced in due course.