Carbon emissions target 'should be 80%'

Carbon emissions target 'should be 80%', Prof Webb says

Sunday, 14, Sep 2008 12:00

Environment secretary Hilary Benn must head to Copenhagen next year with an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions target, Steve Webb said yesterday.

The 2009 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen is expected to be the key opportunity to secure a successor agreement to the Kyoto protocols, which expire in 2012.

At present the government is likely to approve the 60 per cent target currently contained in the climate change bill, which is expected to become law next month, in its negotiation stance.

An independent review of the target headed by Adair Turner is not due to report until November. As Professor Webb pointed out, this will be after the climate change bill is passed.

Addressing a fringe event at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth last night, Prof Webb said the government was "holding on" to the target set in the 1990s, "even though no one thinks it is right anymore".

He underlined the importance of an 80 per cent target, adding: "If we can send Hilary Benn to Poland with something as powerful as that, we'll be making a huge contribution.

"The British government, simply by passing this legislation, can set an example."

The event, hosted by thinktank IPPR and charity Christian Aid, saw Prof Webb's calls echoed by environmental activists.

Elliot Whittington, senior adviser on climate change at Christian Aid, described the predicted consequences of failure as "simply catastrophic".

He said: "There are global responsibilities here. The EU is falling far short of its responsibilities."

And WWF's climate change adaptation advisor Kit Vaughan said the climate change bill "falls far short… for the UK to show true leadership" and said, at present, it "could best be described as schizophrenic".