Abstract: From Energy White Paper: Creating a Low Carbon Economy (2003) to Meeting the Energy Challenge: a White Paper on Energy (2007), climate change policies in UK changed subtly. The position changed from focusing on domestic reduction to emphasizing internationally joint action to combat climate change. The reasons for this change are: 1) greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide emission in UK was rebounded due to various reasons, and the further reduction is ambiguous; 2) UK becomes increasingly dependent on imported fuel; 3) UK worries about that the effectiveness of its domestic reduction might be offset by additional emission from the developing world. As for energy policies, UK becomes more practical.

Key words: UK, energy policy, climate change strategy