UK is world leader in tackling climate change

The UK has become the world leader in tackling climate change with its new Climate Change Bill. The bill has been hailed as the first of its kind in any country and legally commits the government to a low carbon economy and addressing climate change. For the first time in British history the environmental agenda looks set to be a political battleground of huge importance when it comes to winning the votes of a public increasingly concerned about climate change and its related issues.

The bill will commit the UK to a 60 per cent cut in emissions by 2050, with a further legally binding cut of 26 to 32 per cent by 2020. The UK would also have to abide by five year 'carbon budgets', to be set 15 years ahead. Mr Miliband said "This bill is a critical part of the equation. It will help us achieve the twin goals I set out in the strategy I am also publishing today - demonstrating leadership through action at home, while also continuing to work towards a strong international agreement post-2012."

The British government proposed bold new environmental legislation on March 13th that would set legally binding, long-term limits on carbon emissions — a move it hopes will prompt the United States, China and India to follow suit. The Climate Change Bill would be the first legislation in an industrialized country to spell out such long-range goals, including a carbon budget set every five years that would cap CO2 levels and create an independent body to report on progress. The legislation also calls for binding targets, including an emissions reduction of 60 percent by 2050. "This is a revolutionary step in confronting the threat of climate change," Prime Minister Tony Blair said. "It sets an example to the rest of the world.

Chancellor Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron will be fihgting out who is the greenest. The Conservatives have announced plans to put even more taxes on air travel in an attempt to help reduce carbon emissions while Mr Brown is also preparing to set out his environmental masterplan later.

The two men, who are expected to lead their parties into the next General Election, are both delivering keynote speeches on the environment - seen by party strategists on both sides as one of the defining electoral battlegrounds.

The bill must be approved by both houses of Parliament to become law. The government hopes it will be enacted in the first half of next year. EU leaders agreed last week that the bloc will produce 20 percent of its power through renewable energy, as opposed to its current average of 6 percent. Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Britain is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012, as part of an overall European Union target of an 8 percent reduction. Some 10,000 power plants and other industrial facilities across the EU have been assigned quotas for maximum emissions, and can buy and sell allowances in an Europe-wide trading system.

The draft legislation was welcomed by environmentalists and opposition groups but some said the targets could be more ambitious. The bill called for emissions to be reduced by 60 percent by 2050, and by as much as 32 percent by 2020. Targets were based on 1990 levels.

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