Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he is backing the proposals to increase targets for UK emissions reductions with full force. The new Climate Change Committee is expected to report on whether the current target of 60% reduction in emissions should be increased to 80% by 2050.

Today he gave his first speech on the environment, describing how he hopes to tackle the problem and make the UK a leader in the global fight against climate change.

This article in the Guardian makes note of his main points:

“… To help developing countries reduce their emissions, Brown said he wanted to work with the World Bank and countries such as the US, Japan and other G8 and European donors to create a multilateral funding framework that would help developing countries leapfrog to cleaner technologies.

Domestically, Brown said measures in the climate change bill would cut Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions by at least 60% - and possibly as much as 80% - by 2050.

He repeated his call for aviation emissions to be included in the EU emissions trading scheme and said he would ask the climate change committee to examine whether international aviation emissions could be included in the UK’s carbon budgets.

By 2016 Brown also promised that all new houses would be zero carbon and vowed to help one in three existing households to cut their carbon footprints through a one-stop green homes service - and house-to-house visits in poorer areas - which could save householders more than £100 a year in energy bills.

He also promised free insulation for 5m homes over the next three years, and low-energy light bulbs and appliances to a further 3m homes.

He added that each home will be issued with energy performance certificates providing householders with energy ratings.

For businesses, Brown promised to introduce carbon trading in the UK for large but less energy intensive businesses in addition to the climate change levy.

He also promised to get tough on landfill waste by reducing the environmental impact of plastic bags by 25% over the next year, and said he would eliminate single-use bags altogether in the future.

Heralding the move away from fossil-based fuels to renewables, Brown said that by 2020 one-fifth of Europe’s energy should come from renewable sources.

This, he said, would mean a 16-fold increase in the capacity of offshore windfarms as well as the expansion of wave and tidal energy, greater use of energy derived from waste and biomass and more microgeneration such as mini-wind turbines and solar power.

In transport, the PM will look at expanding the use of biofuels, while recognising the impacts these can have on deforestation in developing countries.

To ensure that the costs for all these initiatives remain affordable for businesses and consumers, Brown promised to launch a consultation next year, reporting the following spring.

…

Quoting a report by the commission of climate experts, he said the UK’s environmental industries were worth more than £25bn, employing some 400,000 people, a figure which could double by 2015, creating at least 100,000 jobs.

“It is an opportunity I want this country to seize,” he said, and promised government support for British companies.

Part of this would be a £1bn public-private Energy Technologies Institute, which will focus on R&D in offshore wind, wave and tidal stream energy as well as a new £370m domestic environmental transformation fund to help bring these technologies to market.

He concluded by announcing a multidisciplinary summit to explore how to maximise the economic opportunities for a low carbon future.”

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This entry was posted on November 19th, 2007 at 23:58 (GMT) and is filed under Alternative Energy, Developing World, Emissions Reductions, Environmentalism . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.