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Britons creating 'more emissions'

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From the BBC website:

Greenhouse gas emissions created by Britons are probably twice as bad as figures suggest, says the government's new chief energy scientist.

Professor David MacKay told the BBC that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 are "an illusion".

"Our energy footprint has decreased over the last few decades and that's largely because we've exported our industry," he said.

Developing countries now made the goods that Britain buys, he added.

He was speaking unofficially in a previously recorded interview, but his comments will increase pressure on the UK to improve its offer of emissions cuts at the upcoming climate change talks.

"Other countries make stuff for us so we have naughty, naughty China and India out of control with rising emissions but it's because they are making our stuff for us now," he said.

"It's been estimated by Dieter Helm from the University of Oxford that roughly half of our energy footprint actually lives overseas so our true footprint is twice as big as it looks on paper."

Prof Helm's paper suggests if the UK counted "embedded" emissions, its total pollution would have gone up not down.

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8283909.stm