premise: The prime minister described climate change as the greatest long- term challenge facing the human race. In 1997 he committed Britain to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 per cent, with 2010 set as the date by which this reduction was to be achieved. This target was beyond the Kyoto target to reduce emis- sions and was self-imposed. Unfortunately, after initial success, progress towards the target slowed then stopped, and since 2002 carbon dioxide emissions have risen slightly. In 2005 the government admitted the obvious by conceding that the 20 per cent by 2010 target would not be realized. Some of the reasons are beyond the governments control. Very high prices for natural gas have in recent years meant that energy companies are switching to burning more and dirtier coal. Economic growth has exceeded expectations and resulted in higher than forecast levels of emissions. The government must also take a share of the blame. There has been a whole raft of reports, recommendations and policies directed at countering the causes of climate change. However, few of these initiatives are aimed at cutting emissions or providing incentives to change polluting behaviour. Instead, they largely fall into the category of raising awareness.
hypothesis: The passage states that emissions would be lower than the current level if the British government had adopted more radical policies to counter carbon emissions.