UK set to cut carbon emissions 23 percent by 2010

A chimney is seen at an industrial site on Teesside, northern England February 8,2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is on course to cut its greenhouse gas by about 23 percent by 2010 from the 1990 level -- nearly double its target under the Kyoto agreement, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said on Friday.

"Our latest report...shows what can be achieved when Government, communities and business work together," Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock was quoted as saying

"We know there is more to be done -- we must continue to work urgently to reduce our emissions further and faster."

The UK's target under the Kyoto agreement stood at 12.5 percent by 2010.

Under the EU promise to cut the region's emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Britain has to reduce its emissions by 34 percent.

Separately, the country has also committed itself to an ambitious cut of 80 percent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from the 1990 level.

(Reporting by Nao Nakanishi, editing by Anthony Barker)