"Green" targets seen as tough task

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Judging by past performance the country will struggle to meet ambitious "green" targets of slicing a third off climate warming carbon dioxide emissions within 12 years, risking international embarrassment.

Regulations will have to be tightened to curb emissions from factories and cars, and more incentives will have to be offered to persuade people to change the way they live.

And that is only a stop on the way to the government's pledge to cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 -- nearly 10 times what it has so far achieved.

Britain was the first nation to propose legislation setting binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions saying it wants to set an example to the world. But doubts remain over whether businesses and individuals will make the necessary sacrifices.

"All the data that I am aware of suggests there is absolutely no chance of reducing carbon dioxide significantly in the next 40 years globally and not much more nationally," said social anthropologist and climate commentator Benny Peiser.

"That is because traffic and transport is going to double if not quadruple and the technology to compensate for that kind of steep rise just isn't available," he said.

But environmental analysts say it should not be difficult.

"People will have to change the way they live. Not drastically but giving much more thought to what they buy and what they do," said Chris Goodall, environmentalist and author of How to Live a Low Carbon life.