Carbon Emissions in Poole Unsustainable - Annette Brooke MP

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 27th Oct 2006

Dramatic new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that Poole is still emitting almost three times more carbon dioxide than the global average, despite doing better than the country as a whole.

As part of the Liberal Democrat campaign for a green tax switch - taxing pollution not people - Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, has published figures showing the carbon emissions for Poole, and how this compares to the national and global averages.

Annette Brooke said:

"Poole is emitting 7 tonnes of carbon per person per year on the latest official figures. This puts us at 24.1 % 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.

"This is a creditable record, but we need to go further to get down to a sustainable level that will 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.

"The Green Tax Switch stall in Weymouth Town Centre this Saturday - and leaflets distributed across the Poole area - will be offering practical advice on how to make simple lifestyle changes which can help people save the planet and also save themselves money.

"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.

"All the main political parties now agree that we have to tackle climate change, but only the Liberal Democrats have put forward firm plans to help us change our behaviour through tax incentives."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Green Tax Switch Stall

Saturday 28th October

10.00 - 13.00

Weymouth Town Centre

In the square near Debenhams

Details on Liberal Democrat green tax policies can be found in chapter five of the Tax Commission report

http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/PP75%20Fairer%20Simpler%20Greener.pdf

Figures from the Defra website, with additional statistics calculated

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/regionalrpt/laregionalco2rpt20051021.xls