United Kingdom Climate Change Bill - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Climate Change Act 2008 (c 27) is an Act

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....

to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline, toward avoiding dangerous climate change

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change

The related terms "avoiding dangerous climate change" and "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" date to 1995 and earlier, in the Second Assesment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change and previous science it cites.In 2002, the United Nations...

. The Act aims to enable the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

to become a low-carbon economy

Low-carbon economy

A Low-Carbon Economy or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy is an economy that has a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...

and gives ministers powers to introduce the measures necessary to achieve a range of greenhouse gas reduction targets. An independent Committee on Climate Change

Committee on Climate Change

The Committee on Climate Change is an independent body which advises the UK Government on tackling and preparing for climate change. The Committee provides advice on setting carbon budgets , and reports regularly to Parliament on the progress made in...

has been created under the Act to provide advice to UK Government on these targets and related policies.

Carbon emissions target

On 16 October 2008 Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband

Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...

, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, announced that the Act would mandate an 80% cut overall in six greenhouse gases by 2050.

When first published the Government proposed that the Act would set a target of a 60% cut, excluding international aviation and shipping, a figure that had been a Government ambition for some years. The original 60% figure was adopted based on the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in the United Kingdom was created under Royal Warrant in 1970 to advise the Queen, Government, Parliament and the public on environmental issues...

, made in their June 2000 report Energy - The Changing Environment. If adopted by other countries too, a 60% cut by 2050 was thought likely to limit atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to no more than 550 parts per million

Parts-per notation

In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo units to describe small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction. Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures, they are pure numbers with no associated units of measurement...

which, it was generally thought at the time, would probably prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 2°C (3.6°F) and so avoid the most serious consequences of global warming

Effects of global warming

This article is about the effects of global warming and climate change. The effects, or impacts, of climate change may be physical, ecological, social or economic. Evidence of observed climate change includes the instrumental temperature record, rising sea levels, and decreased snow cover in the...

. The Royal Commission went on to say that there should be an 80% cut by 2100, and that the 550 ppm upper limit should be 'kept under review'. They restated the importance of this in January 2006.

The Royal Commission's figures were based on a June 1996 decision of the EU Council of Ministers

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

to limit emissions to 550 ppm, contained in their Community Strategy on Climate Change. This, in turn, was based on the 1995 IPCC Second Assessment Report

IPCC Second Assessment Report

The Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , published in 1996, is an assessment of the then available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change...

, which first mentioned the 550 ppm - 2°C connection.

A scientific assessment at the 2005 international Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change conference, held in Exeter

Exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

under the UK presidency of the G8

The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...

, concluded that at the level of 550 ppm it was likely that 2°C would be exceeded, based on the projections of more recent climate model

Climate model

Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate...

s. Stabilising greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

concentrations at 450 ppm would only result in a 50% likelihood of limiting global warming to 2°C, and that it would be necessary to achieve stabilisation below 400 ppm to give a relatively high certainty of not exceeding 2°C.

Based on the current rate of increase - averaging about 2 ppm per year - greenhouse gas concentrations are likely to reach 400 ppm by 2016, 450 ppm by 2041, and 550 ppm by around 2091. It is because of this that environmental organisations and some political parties criticised the 60% target as being insufficiently ambitious, and why they demanded greater cuts (80%-100%), as mentioned below. The exclusion of emissions from aviation and shipping, combined with forecasts for growth in these areas, also means that the net effect of the bill would actually have only been a 35-50% total cut on 1990 levels by 2050.

After pressure from the public, MPs and a recommendation from the Climate Change Committee, the 80% target was finally adopted.

Legislative progress

The procedure for enacting legislation in the United Kingdom Parliament sometimes involves numerous consultative and debating stages.

Previous Bill

The current Climate Change Bill was preceded by a Private Member's Bill

Private Member's Bill

A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...

of the same name drafted by Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth (EWNI)

Friends of the Earth is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations...

and brought before Parliament on 7 April 2005. Although it received widespread support the Bill was unable to make progress as Parliament was dissolved ahead of the 2005 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

Early Day Motion

Shortly after the 2005 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2005

, 412 of the 646 Members of Parliament signed an early day motion

Early day motion

An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...

calling for a Climate Change Bill to be introduced, to include a requirement for 3% annual cuts in carbon emissions. Only three other early day motions had ever been signed by more than 400 MPs.

Pre-Legislative Scrutiny

The Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

Government announced the introduction of a Climate Change Bill in the Queen's speech

Speech from the Throne

A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...

, on 15 November 2006. The draft Bill was published on 13 March 2007, but proposed five year 'carbon budgets' rather than the annual targets many had called for. The Government believe that varying weather conditions make annual targets impractical.

The draft Bill was scrutinised by three parliamentary committees. A Joint Select Committee of 24 members from the House of Lords and the House of Commons, chaired by Lord Puttnam, was immediately established to scrutinize the Bill. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons also carried out its own inquiry into the draft Bill, as did the Environmental Audit Committee. These Committees received evidence from a series of interested parties between April and July and cast votes on the final wording of their reports.

Among the critics giving evidence was Lord Lawson

Nigel Lawson

Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974–92, and served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher from June 1983 to October 1989...

who argued that the entire concept was counter-productive because humans would easily be able to adapt to the worst predictions of a 4 degree rise in temperature by the end of the century because, with an average world economic growth of 2%, they would be "seven times as well off as we are today", therefore it was not reasonable to impose a sacrifice on the "much poorer present generation".

The Government response to the report was printed in October 2007.

Lords Debates

The Bill was introduced to the House of Lords by the Government on 14 November 2007. The first debate on the floor of the House (Second Reading) was held on 27 November 2007 and lasted 6 hours. This was followed by eight sittings in the Committee Stage, four further sittings at Report Stage and one more for Third Reading. All of these sittings (including Committee stage) took place on the floor of the House and ten votes for various amendments.

One of the votes rejected a proposal by a majority of 148 to 51 to change the target for 2050 from 60% to 80% below baseline 1990 emissions on the basis that they should wait for new scientific advice from the Committee on Climate Change before changing the target from 60%.

An amendment, to remove the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

's absolute duty to ensure that the 2050 target was met, and replace it with a duty to propose policies to meet the target, was narrowly defeated by 132 votes to 130 in the Third Reading in the House of Lords on the 31st March 2008. The bill passed to the House of Commons.

Commons Debates

During the debate on the Third Reading on the 28th October, the government rejected an opposition amendment to allow the Secretary of State to set the maximum level of carbon dioxide that may be emitted per unit of output by any generating station. After the Committee on Climate Change's advice on the level of the 2050 target was brought forward, the 2050 target was revised from 60% of 1990 carbon dioxide emissions to 80% of the six major greenhouse gas emissions at the instigation of the government. It was also agreed that the British share of aviation and shipping emissions would form part of the target, when a method of measuring these could be agreed.

The bill passed into law on 26 November 2008.

Political parties

The opposition Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

supported the concept of a bill, and proposed their own variation ahead of the Government's. One of the key differences is that they were demanding annual carbon targets, and that the Committee on Climate Change should have an enhanced role, setting targets as well as advising governments.

The Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

took a similar stance to the Conservatives, and were also of the opinion that setting targets every five years would be an abdication of responsibility, because a government typically remains in power for only four years. They also stated that the proposed 60% cut by 2050 may not be sufficient, and that "we may well need to aim more towards about 80%".

A stronger response was provided by the Green Party of England and Wales

Green Party of England and Wales

The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

. They considered that legislation provides a 'massive opportunity', but that the draft Bill was 'dangerously unambitious'. Among their demands were annual targets and an overall emission cut of 90% by 2050.

Among the nationalist political parties whose views were known, the concept of a Climate Change Bill was supported in principle by the Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

and the Democratic Unionist Party

Democratic Unionist Party

The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

. Respect - The Unity Coalition were in favour of a 90% cut in carbon emissions by 2050, but did not express a view on the bill. Welsh Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru

' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

proposed 3% year-on-year carbon cuts for Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

in their policy statements.

The United Kingdom Independence Party

United Kingdom Independence Party

The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...

believed that the Bill was only necessary because of a failure to devise a viable plan for other sources of energy to replace fossil fuel

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

s. They considered that the Bill was 'deeply misguided', likely to cripple the economy

Economy of the United Kingdom

The economy of the United Kingdom is the sixth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal GDP and seventh-largest measured by purchasing power parity , and the third-largest in Europe measured by nominal GDP and second-largest measured by PPP...

and that it would destroy investment in alternative technologies. Instead they believed that the Government and Opposition 'need to be looking into proper alternatives like nuclear power

Nuclear power in the United Kingdom

Nuclear power currently generates around a sixth of the United Kingdom's electricity. As of 2011, the United Kingdom operates 19 nuclear reactors at nine locations...

', and that plans to invest in renewable alternative energies as wind power

Wind power in the United Kingdom

By mid-2011, the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom was over 5.7 gigawatts and the UK is ranked as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future, RenewableUK estimates that more than...

and solar power, as well as cutting carbon emissions by 60%, were 'unachievable and unnecessary'.

Environmental groups

Friends of the Earth's

Friends of the Earth (EWNI)

Friends of the Earth is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations...

Big Ask Campaign

The Big Ask is a campaign by Friends of the Earth calling for a new climate change law in the United Kingdom and 15 other EU member states. The United Kingdom Government announced the introduction of the Climate Change Bill in the Queen's Speech on November 15, 2006. This was as a result of...

was one of the factors that influenced the government to include the Climate Change Bill in their legislative programme. The organisation demanded that the Bill should include legally binding targets for a reduction of at least 3% a year, amounting a total cut of around 80% by 2050. They considered that a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 was not a sufficient contribution from developed countries to the international action on climate change

Individual and political action on climate change

Individual and political action on climate change can take many forms, most of which have the ultimate goal of limiting and/or reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, toward avoiding dangerous climate change.-Political action:...

.

The UK arm of WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

supported the Bill, but launched its Get on Board campaign for the 2050 carbon reduction target to be raised to at least 80%, including the UK share of emissions from international aviation & shipping. In addition, WWF-UK called for retention of the House of Lords' amendment that at least 70% of the UK's reduction should be achieved domestically (limiting to 30% the proportion of the reduction that can be achieved through purchasing 'carbon credits').

The other 50 or so environmental, international development and other organisations belonging to the Stop Climate Chaos

Stop Climate Chaos

Stop Climate Chaos is a climate change coalition of primarily environmental and international development NGOs that was formed in September 2005. The coalition ran the big I Count campaign in 2006–07 and organised The Wave - a campaign focused on the climatic impacts of energy production which...

coalition backed the Big Ask Campaign and shared similar views. The coalition itself criticised the Government for failing to acknowledge the 'global warming danger threshold' of 2°C. Taking this into account, they believed that the 2020 target should be a minimum of 30%, with an 80% target for 2050. They also considered that the Bill should include annual 3% reduction targets, cover aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

and shipping

Shipping

Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...

within its scope, and ban the purchase of carbon credit

Carbon credit

A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide....

s from overseas, a practice which they believe exports the emissions problem elsewhere.

The Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist

Baptist Union of Great Britain

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, despite its name, is the association of Baptist churches in England and Wales. -History:...

, Methodist

Methodist Church of Great Britain

The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...

, and United Reformed

United Reformed Church

The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...

churches called for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions [by 2050], for not ignoring the contribution of air and sea travel, and for reductions of the United Kingdom’s own emissions rather than relying on buying carbon credits from other countries.

Trade unions and businesses

The Confederation of British Industry

Confederation of British Industry

The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...

, which has created its own climate change task force, welcomed the proposed Bill, stating that it combined two vital elements, long-term clarity on policy direction and flexibility in its delivery.

Support for the Bill was also given by the Trades Union Congress

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...

Committee on Climate Change

The Committee on Climate Change

Committee on Climate Change

, whose powers are invested by Part 2 of the Act, was formally launched in December 2008 with Lord Adair Turner

Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell

Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell is a British businessman, academic and chairman of both the Financial Services Authority and the Committee on Climate Change. He was formerly chairman of the Pensions Commission...

as its chair.

External links

Media

10 April 2008, Internet Public Library: Painless Carbon Reduction by 80%
3 August 2007, BBC: MPs & peers urge tougher carbon law
14 March 2007, Independent Online: A Bill which makes reducing carbon emissions a legal duty
23 February 2007, Times Online: Miliband mocked by his critics as climate Bill is downgraded
15 November 2006, Guardian Unlimited: Miliband denies cabinet split over climate bill
13 October 2006, Politics.co.uk: Ministers 'looking carefully' at possible climate change bill
1 February 2006, Euractive: chief scientific adviser: Keeping CO₂ concentration below 450ppm is 'unfeasible'

UK Legislation

Explanatory notes to the Climate Change Act 2008.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Carbon emissions target

Legislative progress

Previous Bill

Early Day Motion

Pre-Legislative Scrutiny

Lords Debates

Commons Debates

Political parties

Environmental groups

Trade unions and businesses

Committee on Climate Change

See also

External links

UK Legislation