Carbon Emissions in Sutton unsustainable - Burstow

4.41.12pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 30th Oct 2006

Dramatic new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that Sutton is doing better than the country as a whole in keeping down emissions of the gases that cause climate change, but is still emitting more than three twice as much carbon dioxide as the global average.

As part of the Liberal Democrat campaign for a green tax switch - taxing pollution not people - Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, has published figures showing the carbon emissions per head of population in the borough, and how this compares to the national and global averages.

The figures show that the average Sutton resident generates 5.7 tonnes of carbon a year compared to the UK average of 9.3 tonnes per year.

Paul Burstow said:

"While these figures are a good start we need to go further. Unless we get down to a sustainable level we will not stop climate chaos, rising sea levels and storms.

"The good news is that the technology is already there to do so by shifting to low carbon cars, saving energy in the home, and cutting down oil and gas at work.

"Through simple things like turning down the thermostat, using energy saving light bulbs and not leaving appliances on standby we can all help to save the environment and cut our energy bills. I urge everybody to make at least one commitment to energy saving today.

"Only the Liberal Democrats have put forward firm plans to help us change our behaviour through tax incentives."

Notes to Editors:

With a population of 178,000, Sutton is emitting 1,015,700 tonnes of carbon each year on the latest official figures. This puts the borough at 5.7 tonnes of carbon per person per year, 38.7 per cent less than the UK average of 9.3 tonnes per person, but still far higher than the global average of around 2.5 tonnes per person.