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Our work in the UK

Gordon Brown at Climate Change event, London

What is WWF UK doing to reduce climate change?

The UK is a key country in the global context. The UK government punches above its weight in the international negotiations and plays a critical role in the EU. In addition the imminent adoption of the UK Climate Change Act, if followed through and implemented properly, could mean that the UK becomes an exemplar for industrialised country decarbonisation.

London is also the centre of the world’s financial and carbon markets; and the UK is at the forefront of many key debates, for example on carbon capture and storage, nuclear power, energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon markets and the linkages between climate change adaptation and development.

UK coal fired power station

The power sector

The power sector is the largest source of emissions in the UK and globally – accounting for roughly a third of all emissions.

Aeroplane

Aviation and transport

In the UK, transport accounts for around 28% of our total emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change.

Coal fired power station

Emissions Trading Scheme

Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme sets a cap on emissions of over 11,000 individual installations in the power and energy-intensive industries.

Off-shore wind turbines

Climate adaptation and development

Adaptation is very much the new frontier of the climate change agenda.

Emma Biermann

Climate change Young Ambassadors

In June, two UK students, Emma Biermann and Casper ter Kuile, joined WWF's Voyage for the Future programme.