The UK has revised down its GHG emissions figures going back to 1990, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said on Tuesday, reporting that it emitted 6 million fewer tonnes of CO2e in 2014 than previously estimated.

The UK made the revisions based on new reporting and methodological guidelines from the UNFCCC and IPCC, which resulted in a downward shift in the national emissions totals ranging from 1.3% to 1.6% between 1990 and 2014.

The UK emitted 514.4 million tonnes of CO2e in 2014, according to DECC’s finalised figures, representing a 7.7% annual decline, which was slightly below the 8.4% drop the ministry provisionally reported almost a year ago.

The decrease was attributed mainly to warmer temperatures and less coal used to generate energy.

Figures for 1990 – the baseline year used under the Kyoto Protocol – were revised down to 796.6 million tonnes of CO2e from 809.4 million reported last year, also as a result of the changes to reporting rules.

Based on the changes, the UK has still cut its GHG emissions by more than 35% since 1990 – far overshooting the EU goal to reduce by 20% below that baseline by 2020.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com