Eeek!

Headline news today on an audit report prepared by scientists from University College London - The current pace of UK Government policies will fail it meet its target of cutting carbon emission by 30% by 2020. Instead, this target will not be met until 2050 - which then calls into question its current 60% target for that period.

The audit, available in full from the UCL website here, projects that a cut of 12-17% will be reached by 2020 (against a 30% target). There are two particularly important points - the first is that the Government's predictions are based on an optimistic assessment of the effectiveness of voluntary policy programmes - and the second is that the 'easy win' cuts have already been made.

On the first, a prime example is the Code for Sustainable Housing which sets ambitious targets - but is entirely voluntary. Enforcement of such voluntary programmes is difficult, and whether the targeted savings will actually be made involves a fair bit of wait-and-see. On the second, the big savings - switching from coal to natural gas, the decline of heavy industry - have already been made and there will be hard work ahead to continually make carbon trimmings that all add up.

No wonder they say Mondays are the most depressing days of the week...