YORK, England, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Contrary to government claims, Britain's greenhouse gas emissions are actually rising, two academic reports claim.
The government says Britain's carbon emissions have been falling since the 1990s, but those figures don't include emissions from the shipping or aviation industries, and excludes imported goods, as well. If those are factored into the equation, the reports say, Britain's emissions are actually much higher than before, The Independent reported Saturday.
The reports come from the Stockholm Environment Institute, based at the University of York, the British newspaper said. One indicates Britain's total greenhouse gas emissions are 49 percent higher than reported, while another showed that rather than going down by 5 percent, as the government claims, CO2 emissions rose 18 percent between 1992 and 2004 when all emissions are counted.
British Environment Minister Phil Woolas told The Independent: "I think it's very misleading to say these figures challenge our (the government's) figures; they are a different calculation altogether."
