Carbon Emissions in Manchester are Unsustainable, say local Lib Dems

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 27th Oct 2006

Dramatic new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that Manchester is still emitting three times as much carbon dioxide, the gas that causes climate change, as the global average per head of population.

As part of the Liberal Democrat campaign for a green tax switch ("taxing pollution not people") John Leech MP has highlighted figures showing the carbon emissions per head of population in the city.

John Leech MP said:

"With a population of 432,500, Manchester is emitting 3,275,300 tonnes of carbon each year, according to the latest official figures. This puts us at 7.6 tonnes of carbon per person per year, far higher than the global average of around 2.5 tonnes per person."

"We need to go much 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."

"Through simple things like turning down the thermostat, using energy saving light bulbs and not leaving appliances on stand-by 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."

"The Government should also bow to pressure and introduce a Climate Change Bill with tough targets to reduce CO2 emissions."

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