Carbon budget welcomed18 May 2011
Yesterday the Government announced it will accept its climate advisors' call for significant cuts in UK carbon emissions by 2027.
Thank you to all our supporters who helped achieve this significant step forward. Your actions make a real difference.
But a get-out clause - which would enable Ministers to weaken UK climate targets if EU nations do not deliver sufficient cuts - could undermine business confidence in investing in a greener future.
Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said:
David Cameron's welcome decision to back Chris Huhne over the Climate Committee's call for tougher global warming action will boost his flagging green credentials.
But the inclusion of a get-out clause, in case Europe doesn't cut emissions fast enough, creates needless uncertainty that could dent business confidence - and all just to save face for the Chancellor and Business Secretary, who opposed this agreement.
Ministers must now get on with the urgent task of fast-tracking the development of a low-carbon economy which will create new jobs and business opportunities and wean the nation off its costly addiction to fossil fuels.
Atkins said the Cabinet row over carbon budgets is a warning that some key Government departments are still only thinking about the short-term and would scupper moves to develop a low-carbon economy.
The Committee on Climate Change's recommendations are supported by many of the UK's leading companies - whose leaders recently wrote to David Cameron urging him to heed the advice and reiterating 'our longstanding support for strong and clear action on climate change, based on the science'.
There is still a lot of work to be done. But everyone who helped convince David Cameron to accept the call for tougher action on emissions should give themselves a pat on the back.
> Background on carbon budgets
Friends of the Earth's Martyn Williams explains the significance of the Government's announcement on carbon budgets.
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