Climate Bill Public Meeting
MPs from the three main political parties shared the stage with Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper to discuss the Climate Bill currently going through Parliament.
The progress in the climate change debate since the launch of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition (of which People & Planet is a founding member) in 2005 has been dramatic. That was the claim of Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper at a public meeting in London last night.
Three years ago there had been a reluctance on the part of UK politicians to take the lead as the UK was “only responsible for 2% of the world’s emissions.” What we have now is the first ever national legislation on carbon emissions. This revolutionary Bill is being monitored by parliaments across the world and some countries, such as Austria, have also introduced legislation following the British model.
So what is the Climate Bill all about?
- A series of clear, legally-binding targets for reducing UK carbon dioxide emissions: a 60% cut by 2050, and a 26-32% cut by 2020.
- A new system of legally binding five year “carbon budgets”.
- A new statutory body, the Committee on Climate Change, to provide independent expert advice and guidance to Government on achieving its targets and staying within its carbon budgets, providing an independent progress report to which the Government must respond.
- See DEFRA’s website for much more detailed information.
During the meeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Peter Ainsworth helpfully drew attention to the amendments to the Bill made in the House of Lords thanks to pressure from Tory and Liberal Democrat peers.
- The Commitee on Climate Change would be strengthened through setting emissions targets and being duty-bound to engage with the public.
- Advice from the Committee to the Government would be made public and if the Government disagrees with the Committee it would have to state its reasons for doing so.
- There would a promise on sectoral targets so that carbon emissions from each area of industry can be monitored closely.
- There would be more of a focus on adaptation to the effects of climate change with the creation of an Adaptation sub-Committee.
- Finally, there would be a 30% cap on the amount of carbon emission reductions that the UK could buy overseas to offset emissions in this country.
It’s not quite as straightforward as that, however. Tony Juniper highlighted areas of the Bill that need strengthening. Firstly, recent scientific evidence suggests that we need a cut of at least 80% in carbon emissions, rather than the 60% currently included in the Bill. The UN’s Development Programme has stated that while the UK is leading the way with this legislation, “60% is not enough”. Secondly, emissions from international aviation and shipping need to be included in the Bill. What gets passed in the Bill will be implemented over fifty years so it is crucial that we get it right, Juniper noted.
Juniper also highlighted a problem inherent in the UK political set-up: responsibilities for emissions are spread around several departments. As a result, he called on the Prime Minister to take responsibility for implementing the Bill by bringing emissions under one figurehead.
Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, urged the audience to remember just how radical the Bill is. Within twelve months we will see carbon budgets in the UK so that, for example, new Government policies will be weighed up against how much carbon they cost as well as how much money. Alarmingly, Benn refused to commit Government to accepting the advice of the soon-to-be-created Committee on Climate Change Committee if it indeed calls for an 80% target.
Benn went on to claim that the UN Climate Change Conference at Bali in December had succeeded because the politics around climate change was changing; this was happening because of the increasing weight of scientific evidence in favour of action. Bali was the easy bit, he concluded, the difficult work really starts now.
Steve Webb of the Liberal Democrats opened with a dig at Peter Ainsworth in claiming that politicians know what the audience wants to hear (“Boo to Heathrow!”, “Boo to Kingsnorth!”) but that what mattered was actually doing something about it. In Parliament, Webb added, the Conservatives had abstained on a vote for the target to be increased to 80%.
Webb returned to the theme of problems in enforcing the Bill across Government, describing Hilary Benn’s department (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) as a “minnow among wolves…excuse the mixed metaphor”. To illustrate this, he pointed out that the Energy Bill being taken through Parliament at the moment does not talk about energy efficiency. It is this lack of joined up thinking, with climate change not permeating every Government department equally or consistently, that presented a huge challenge to the Bill’s implementation, Webb concluded, getting the biggest round of applause of the evening.