UK PARTICIPATION IN EU CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION STRATEGY

Motion Text

That this House notes the grave threat posed to this planet and life on Earth by climate change; endorses the Government's target for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 60 per cent. by 2050; notes that this target was reconfirmed by the Environment Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions on 13th January; further notes however that minutes of the European Council from 9th December 2004 confirm that the UK Government pressed for removal of a similar target from an EU document on climate change; believes this target is an essential component of the EU's medium and longer term emission reduction strategy; recalls the Prime Minister's personal commitment to making the tackling of climate change one of the Government's two priorities for the UK's presidencies of the EU and G8; believes that attempts to weaken EU policy in order to bring the Bush administration on board are both dangerously naive and futile; and calls upon the Government to reinstate its commitment to this key carbon reduction target both at home and in the EU.