Five biggest polluters in UK produce more CO2 than all motorists combined

Think how much worse it is in the US where energy demands and consumption are significantly higher...

"The figures, which have prompted new calls for tighter restrictions on corporate pollution, show that efforts by individuals and households to cut their carbon footprints will make little difference unless accompanied by greater action by industry. A 1% increase in the efficiency of the giant Drax power station in North Yorkshire - the largest in Europe and the single biggest polluting site in the UK - would save the typical carbon emissions of 21,000 households. Drax alone produced 20.8m tonnes of carbon dioxide last year.

Article continues The top five companies (EON UK, RWE Npower, Drax, Corus, and EDF) produced between them more than 100m tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005. On average, the country's 26m private cars produce 91m tonnes each year."

Hundreds of UK companies are excluded from the scheme - because they are not classed as big polluters or because they participate in a parallel system run by the government. Figures from these firms have been obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws. They show that dozens of household names produce more than many small countries.