The “carbon footprint” for the pollution caused by UK consumption has fallen slightly, official figures show.
Output of greenhouse gases linked to goods and services consumed by UK households, including emissions from the foreign manufacture of imported products, fell 1% between 2013 and 2014, the most recent data shows.
The slight decrease is down to a fall in emissions associated with goods produced in the UK and from households, according to the statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
They highlight the UK’s wider role in the output of emissions which cause climate change, compared with other data which only accounts for domestically produced greenhouse gases.
UK consumption caused 827 million tonnes of the six major greenhouse gases in 2014, down a fifth on the peak of 1,032 million tonnes in 2007, they show.
Greenhouse gas emissions relating to imports of goods, which caused pollution abroad during their manufacture for sale and use in the UK, rose 41% between 1997 and 2007, and were still 19% higher in 2014 than they were in 1997.
In 2014, emissions associated with imports from China were 239% higher than they were in 1997.
But greenhouse gas pollution linked to the consumption of goods and services produced in the UK was 27% lower than in 1997, reflecting a shift in the UK away from manufacturing to services and an increasing reliance on imported goods.