Monday, September 24, 2007
The Environment - action now!
The central theme of the recent Liberal Democrat conference was “The Environment – Action Now”. With the policies in our climate change paper we have become the first major British party to map out the route to a carbon neutral Britain. Running through all our policies is a green thread that signals our commitment to combating climate change. Under our proposals, the UK would set the green standard for others to reach.
Recent scientific evidence suggests that the target of 60% cut in emissions is on the low side, and Lib Dems will continue to press for a more ambitious but realistic target of at least 80% by 2050. Our ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ paper, including a commitment to work towards a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, is the most ambitious proposals on climate change of any political party. If this is to be achieved, annual targets of at least 3 per cent will be necessary. The Government has the opportunity to provide genuine international leadership in the fight against Climate Change, yet the current bill is simply weak in too many key areas, such as the exclusion of shipping and international aviation emissions. The failure to address these emissions would simply allow them to grow and they must be included in the final bill.
Beyond the Climate Change Bill, we need both the Conservative and Labour parties to be as bold as the Liberal Democrats have been in proposing measures to promote, support and reward efforts to combat climate change. Our ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ paper includes proposals such as our Green Tax Switch campaign that switches the tax burden from good things like work, risk and effort to bad things like pollution. We need fairer and greener taxes, not more taxes.
[Watch our 'Environment: Act Now' video]
Recent scientific evidence suggests that the target of 60% cut in emissions is on the low side, and Lib Dems will continue to press for a more ambitious but realistic target of at least 80% by 2050. Our ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ paper, including a commitment to work towards a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, is the most ambitious proposals on climate change of any political party. If this is to be achieved, annual targets of at least 3 per cent will be necessary. The Government has the opportunity to provide genuine international leadership in the fight against Climate Change, yet the current bill is simply weak in too many key areas, such as the exclusion of shipping and international aviation emissions. The failure to address these emissions would simply allow them to grow and they must be included in the final bill.
Beyond the Climate Change Bill, we need both the Conservative and Labour parties to be as bold as the Liberal Democrats have been in proposing measures to promote, support and reward efforts to combat climate change. Our ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ paper includes proposals such as our Green Tax Switch campaign that switches the tax burden from good things like work, risk and effort to bad things like pollution. We need fairer and greener taxes, not more taxes.
[Watch our 'Environment: Act Now' video]
# posted by John Beanse @ 11:06 AM 
