The “greenest government ever”?

Today WDM joined Campaign Against Climate Change in a demo to remind the government not to backtrack on its commitments to the Climate Change Act.

Back in 2008, WDM groups and activists successfully campaigned for a strong climate change bill. Over the last few weeks, however, it has become clear that parts of the government want to backtrack on some of the commitments made.

Last week there were threats the government would not accept the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) for a new carbon budget, focusing instead on short term economic interests.

This issue caused strong divisions within the cabinet, with leaked letters showing disagreement between Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, and Vince Cable and George Osborne who were arguing against the recommendations because of their potential impact on the economy.

Campaigners have been putting pressure on David Cameron to step in and ensure that the recommendations of the CCC are followed, in what the Guardian has called the “key test” of the government’s green credentials”. Having once claimed that “this government will be the greenest government ever”, it was looking increasingly likely last week that David Cameron was going to default on yet another promise. Just today Cameron made an announcement that a concession had been made to the ministers who were resisting the targets, (from both the coalition parties) that meant that targets would be reviewed once again if European nations backslide on their own climate commitments. Essentially sounding like ministerial playground politics rather than a position really reflecting Cameron’s claims that he would be leading the ‘greenest government ever’.

This morning, Campaign Against Climate Change responded with an emergency demo to make sure David Cameron stuck to the principles he voiced so strongly when in opposition. WDM joined the protest, meeting at the Lib Dem headquarters on Cowley Street, then making our way to Downing Street. Though reports over the weekend showed that the government have agreed to accept the recommendations of the CCC, there are legitimate concerns this will fall short of a strong climate change policy. For example, the efforts will be weakened by not tightening the 2020 target for carbon reduction and potentially allowing flexibility for carbon trading.

Campaigners also voiced concerns with some of the advice from the Committee on Climate Change itself including its support for false solutions such as biofuels. The Committee’s recommendations also fail to take into account the outsourcing of a large proportion of UK emissions to countries like China to feed our increased demand for consumer goods. These concerns were made clear at the demonstration as campaigners argued that some of the recommendations from the CCC may actually increase climate injustice, in particular for people in the global south. 

In addition to this, the targets enshrined in the Climate Act are now inadequate in terms of the latest science. For example, people like Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre who argue we need something more like 10% cuts to carbon emissions a year, or James Hansen who heads the climate research effort at NASA who explains that two degrees of warming is too dangerous.

You can read the letter that was handed in to the Lib Dem office at this morning’s demo here.