Archived press release

Brown's fuel cut fuel's climate change

2 December 2004

Gordon Brown's decision to abandon this year's planned increase in fuel duty and failure to introduce any significant measures to cut greenhouse gases has jeopardised the UK's ability to lead international efforts to tackle climate change, Friends of the Earth warned today.

Although Gordon Brown`s acknowledgement of the importance of tackling climate change is welcome [1], his pre budget report will make it harder for the Government to meet its promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The pre-budget statement was a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to back Tony Blair's recent call for urgent action to tackle climate change. The Chancellor could have announced a number of policies - from altering road tax to encourage fuel efficiency and penalising gas-guzzlers, through to financial incentives for householders and industry to save energy.

By caving in to the motoring lobby, and scrapping this year's fuel tax rise, the Chancellor will encourage people to use their cars more and lead to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Mr Brown will also lose £590 million each year which could have been spent on improving public transport and making streets safer for children to walk and cycle. Since the fuel protests of 2000, the overall cost of motoring has fallen 12 per cent. Carbon dioxide emissions have not fallen since Labour assumed power in 1997 [2].

Friends of the Earth's Director, Tony Juniper, said:

"Abandoning this year's fuel duty rise severely jeopardises Government targets for tackling climate change. Despite recognising the need for action on global warming, Gordon Brown's actions today will lead to an increase in carbon dioxide levels, when it should be trying to make significant cuts. The Government wants to put climate change at the top of the international agenda, but unless it takes firm action at home it will not be taken seriously."

Earlier this year Tony Blair said that unless urgent action was taken on climate change the world faced a global catastrophe. He said that he would ensure that the issue was at the top of the international agenda next year when the UK has Presidency of the EU and chair of the G8. The two best opportunities to demonstrate World leadership, by delivering policies to reduce emissions, are through budgetary measures and the Review of the UK Climate Change Programme, to be launched next week (Wednesday).

Notes

[1] Gordon Brown will deliver a keynote speech at an International stakeholder meeting on climate change in March 2005 - a welcome sign that he may be starting to take the issue seriously.

[2] The Government has pledged to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 per cent by 2010 (based on 1990 levels). Emissions currently stand at only 7.5 per cent below the 1990 baseline, the same as when Labour came to power in 1997.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust