Committee urges need for Climate Change Minister
February 18, 2008
The House of Commons Treasury Committee has published a new report on climate change, which urges the Government to appoint a dedicated Climate Change Minister in order to create an effective champion of climate change across government.
The report acknowledges that climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today and requires an urgent response from government, industry and individuals.
The MPs’ report was triggered by the publication of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in late 2006, which stressed the need to stabilise carbon emissions sooner rather than later, and warned of potentially catastrophic impacts if that was not achieved. The Stern Review framed the climate change debate in terms of economic choices, and considered the use of economic tools such as environmental taxation and permit trading schemes as economically efficient mechanisms for cutting emissions.
The MPs of the Treasury Committee recommend that the Government give primary consideration to the use of economic tools in combating climate change and therefore the Treasury’s policies and actions in this regard are the main focus of the report.
The MPs analyse the issue of environmental taxation in the report, arguing that currently "confusion reigns over the definition of environmental tax", with the Office of National Statistics and the Treasury using different measures.
The report welcomes the Government’s proposal that Air Passenger Duty be replaced by Per Plane Duty, but expresses regret that the Government has taken so long to do so.
Finally, the MPs point out that many government departments are involved in climate change programmes and it welcomes the establishment of the Office for Climate Change (OCC), which seeks to promote cross-departmental co-operation. However, it urges that a minister should take responsibility for the OCC, in order to create an effective champion of climate change across government.
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