'BENN IRRESPONSIBLE OVER CLIMATE CHANGE'

Fiona Hall MEP <info@fionahall.org.uk>

'BENN IRRESPONSIBLE OVER CLIMATE CHANGE' - FIONA

November 1, 2007 12:00 AM

North East Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament, Fiona Hall, has accused the Government of being 'irresponsible' on climate change. This comes after members of I Count - the UK's largest climate change coalition - protested outside Downing Street and its director said that in its present form the Climate Change Bill 'will not cut carbon'.

The most recent amended draft of the Climate Change Bill sets a 60% target for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK by 2050. Campaigners say that an 80% target is the minimum required to keep within the widely-accepted global warming danger threshold of a 2 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures. A target of only 60% would mean a rise in temperature of around 4 degrees Celsius.

Commenting on the recent draft of the Bill, Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat Energy Spokesperson in Europe, said:

"The Government's Climate Change Bill is looking like a farce. We have had u-turn after u-turn regarding the Pay-as-you-Throw scheme. We have had hard-copy versions of the Bill contradicting versions on Defra's website. Now it seems that the targets set will not sufficiently tackle climate change.

"This is the single most important issue facing this generation and the Government is failing us all. Hilary Benn can call this Bill 'groundbreaking' as many times as he likes, but the fact remains that a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 will not achieve the widely accepted goal of limiting global temperature rise to within 2 degrees Celsius.

"As we have seen in recent weeks, the Government backs away from its own targets faster than it can set new ones. Failure to set ambitious targets for carbon emissions, knowing full well the risks involved with dramatic climate change is simply irresponsible."