Main Improvements to the UK Climate Change Bill  

The Government announced the following improvements to the Bill - extract from "Taking forward the UK Climate Change Bill: Government Response to Pre-Legislative Scrutiny and Public Consultation" (October 2007).

 

Increasing the strength of the UK’s carbon management framework

As announced by the Prime Minister in September, we will ask the Committee on Climate Change to report on whether the 60% reduction in emissions by 2050 should be even stronger still. This report will also look at the implications of including other greenhouse gases in our targets, and we will take powers to allow us to do this at a future stage if necessary. In addition, the report will also examine the implications of including international aviation and shipping emissions in our targets. The Government believes that these emissions should ideally be addressed at an international level.

We are also pressing for the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as soon as possible, as the most effective means of controlling aviation emissions. This will ensure that total emissions from aviation and other EU ETS sectors are kept below a fixed limit, with trading allowing this environmental goal to be met at least cost. When the EU ETS rules have been finalised, we will also ask the Committee on Climate Change for its advice on whether there is a methodology for including international aviation emissions in our targets which is workable and compatible with the EU ETS and takes account of progress in the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the wider international context, and on the impacts of adopting it.

Increasing the transparency and accountability of the UK’s carbon management framework

The draft Bill proposed a strong system of annual accountability, under which every year the Committee on Climate Change would provide an independent report to Parliament on progress towards meeting targets and budgets, and every year the Government would respond to this report. We intend to further strengthen the transparency and accountability of the Bill’s framework, by:

§                requiring the Committee on Climate Change to publish its analysis and advice to Government on setting the budgets, as well as the minutes of its meetings;

§                requiring the Government to explain its reasons to Parliament if it does not accept the Committee’s advice on the level of the carbon budget, or if it does not meet a budget or target;

§                rationalising and increasing the coherence of the current reporting requirements on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions; and

§                reporting annually to Parliament on emissions from international aviation and shipping in line with UNFCCC practice.

We believe this approach – five-year carbon budgets, which ensure that every year’s emissions count, backed by strong annual accountability and independent scrutiny – provides the best balance between predictability and flexibility in ensuring that emissions are reduced as we make progress towards our 2050 target.

Strengthening the role and independence of the new Committee on Climate Change

The independent, expert Committee on Climate Change will play a vital role in advising Government on how to reduce emissions over time and across the economy, and in reporting annually to Parliament on progress. We intend to strengthen the Committee’s role by requiring Government to seek the Committee’s advice before amending the 2050 or 2020 targets in the Bill, before introducing the first set of regulations on the use of carbon credits, and before establishing any trading schemes under the Bill. This should further ensure that decisions are robust and based on a high level of transparent scrutiny. In addition, we intend to strengthen the Committee’s independence of Government by confirming that it will appoint its own chief executive and staff, and plan to increase the resources which will be available to it in the light of the parliamentary committees’ recommendations.

Ensuring greater impact on the UK’s emissions

The Climate Change Bill will provide an overall framework for tackling climate change.  In tandem with the proposals in the Energy White Paper, and the forthcoming Energy and Planning Bills, it will be part of a package of action to progress the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy. We will also use the Climate Change Bill to: implement the Carbon Reduction Commitment – a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme covering energy use emissions from large, non-energy-intensive organisations; improve the operation of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO); and provide a power to pilot local authority incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling. We will announce proposals in due course. Together, these policies could save the equivalent of up to 9.4-13.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2020. And the Bill will contain further powers allowing us to introduce new trading schemes through secondary legislation, following full public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.

Adapting to the consequences of climate change

Tackling climate change requires a two-pronged effort: action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid future dangerous levels of climate change, and action to deal with the impact that we are already experiencing and will continue to experience over coming decades. The UK’s economic, environmental and social direction over the coming years will be significantly affected by our ability to adapt to these changes. The Bill will therefore require the Government, on a regular basis, to assess the risks to the UK from the impact of climate change and report to Parliament. 

In addition, the Bill will also require the Government to publish and regularly update a programme covering England and reserved matters setting out how we will address

this likely impact. This adaptation programme will be based on the principles of sustainable development, which will help ensure that environmental, economic and social issues are all fully considered.   The Government believes that the Bill has been substantially improved by the process of pre-legislative scrutiny, and is most grateful to the parliamentary committees for their work and to all those who responded to the public consultation. We plan to introduce the revised Bill in the forthcoming parliamentary session.  

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