Amendment to Climate Bill defeated
March 7, 2008
Proposals for an amendment to the Climate Change Bill, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80%, rather than 60%, by 2050 have been defeated at the report stage of the Bill.
The amendment to strengthen the Government's Climate Change Bill was moved by the Liberal Democrat Energy Spokesman Lord Redesdale, who proposed the raising of the target to 80%.
Lord Redesdale argued that this was needed to reflect the responsibility of the UK as one of the first industrial nations and to provide an opportunity to gain a technological advantage in modern technologies.
Moving his amendment, Lord Redesdale said, "We should not look at moving up to an 80% level as a problem; it is an opportunity. If we are to move to a low-carbon economy, we must look at adapting all our technologies. If every country in the world were also honour-bound to meet those obligations, it would give us a position in the market place that would be extremely helpful."
However, the House of Lords voted against the amendment, with 53 for and 150 against, although the Liberal Democrats voted in favour of the amendment.
In contrast, in an earlier vote, the Government was defeated on the Bill. Peers voted in favour of an amendment to set out at the start of the Bill exactly what the legislation is to achieve.
Specifically, this is that "UK emissions of greenhouse gases do not exceed the level necessary to contribute to limiting global average temperature increase to not more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels."
Speaking in support of the amendment, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Lord Teverson said that there was a duty on legislators to make legislation clear and obvious to the public. He said the amendment would do this by stating in plain language exactly what the legislation is about.
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