UK emissions targets ramped up to 50%

Britain on Tuesday unveiled plans to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 50 per cent from 1990 levels by 2025, ramping up pressure on the European Union to increase its target. The new target is a big jump forward for Britain in its carbon-cutting ambitions and puts it far head of the EU as a whole, which has committed to a 20-per-cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. Britain is among the members of the 27-nation bloc, along with France and Germany that have been pushing for the target to be hiked to 30 per cent.