An official advisory committee urged the government to commit unilaterally to reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases in the United Kingdom by at least 34 per cent in 2020 relative to 1990 levels. It said that household electricity costs could rise by more than 25 per cent by 2020 if this target were to be achieved.
Source: Building a Low-carbon Economy: The UK's contribution to tackling climate change, Committee on Climate Change (020 7270 1916)
Links: Report | Summary | CCC press release | Green Alliance press release | CPRE press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Greenpeace press release | CfBT press release | RTPI press release | Oxfam press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | NFU press release | Conservative Party press release | Green Party press release | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2008-Dec
A report examined the reasons why government found it difficult to make progress on the issue of climate change. There was a need to establish a widespread understanding of the connexions between climate change and issues of poverty, housing, health, security, and well-being.
Source: Stephen Hale, The New Politics of Climate Change: Why we are failing and how we will succeed, Green Alliance (020 7233 7433)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Dec
The Climate Change Act 2008 was given Royal assent. The Act created a legally binding commitment to achieve the government's target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050; introduced five-year carbon budgets; and established a new independent climate change committee.
Source: Climate Change Act 2008, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Friends of the Earth press release | EST press release
Date: 2008-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on climate change and local government. It said that it shared the Committee's view that action at a sub-national level was essential in enabling it to meet its 'ambitious but very necessary' commitments to mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Source: Climate Change and Local, Regional and Devolved Government: Government Response to the Committee's Eighth Report, Ninth Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 1189, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2008-Nov
The government announced the creation of a Department of Energy and Climate Change – combining policy responsibilities previously divided between other departments.
Source: Press release 3 October 2008, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (020 7215 5000)
Links: DBERR press release | SDC press release | Greenpeace press release | Green Alliance press release | WWF press release | Oxfam press release | CBI press release | NEA press release | Royal Society press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
The Climate Change Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to create a legally binding commitment to achieve the government's target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050; introduce five-year carbon budgets; and establish a new independent climate change committee.
Source: Climate Change Bill [HL], Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 28 October 2008, columns 733-842, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Friends of the Earth press release | LowCVP press release | TPA press release | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2008-Oct
The government committed the United Kingdom to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, instead of the existing target of 60 per cent. The announcement followed a letter of advice from the official Committee on Climate Change.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 16 October 2008, columns 935-954, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DEC press release | Greenpeace press release | Friends of the Earth press release | CBI press release | Oxfam press release | UNISON press release | Conservative Party press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
A paper set out various scenarios from different perspectives – environmental, business, economic, consumer, academic – by which Scotland could reach the target of cutting greenhouse emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
Source: Peter Jones (ed.), Reducing Carbon Emissions: The view from 2050, Hume Occasional Paper 79, David Hume Institute (0131 667 9609)
Links: Paper
Date: 2008-Oct
A paper examined the response of civil society to the issue of climate change, and fuel and food scarcity.
Source: Tony Kendle, Climate Change and Resource Scarcity: A discussion paper for non-environmental civil society groups, Carnegie UK Trust (01383 721445)
Links: Paper
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that green taxes and charges were too onerous. The social cost of Britain's entire output of greenhouse gases was between £2.4 billion and £16.3 billion in 2007, compared to the total burden of green taxes and charges in 2007-08, net of road spending, of £24.2 billion.
Source: Matthew Sinclair, The Burden of Green Taxes, TaxPayers' Alliance (0845 330 9554)
Links: Report | Friends of the Earth press release
Date: 2008-Aug
A think-tank report called for a 'Green New Deal', involving massive investment in renewable energy and wider environmental transformation, and reining in 'reckless' aspects of the finance sector in order to prioritize the interests of the real economy.
Source: Andrew Simms et al., A Green New Deal: Joined-up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: Summary | NEF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jul
A paper said that green taxes should be reformed to achieve their environmental objectives more effectively: but policymakers should be wary of calls for a big increase in green taxes to finance a significant shift away from the use of other taxes.
Source: Don Fullerton, Andrew Leicester and Stephen Smith, Environmental Taxes, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Paper | Commentary | IFS press release | ICAEW press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that although the United Kingdom government had a credible voice in international negotiations on climate change, it was important that it did not undermine this position by supporting domestic policies that ran counter to climate change objectives.
Source: Reaching an International Agreement on Climate Change, Sixth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 355, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that it was encouraged by the efforts that the government had made to raise the profile of the need to address climate change at the different levels of government. It was vital that local, regional, and devolved government had a clear understanding of their role in tackling climate change.
Source: Climate Change and Local, Regional and Devolved Government, Eighth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 225, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A government strategy report examined food policy, highlighting problems of rising demand, climate change, and trade and productivity restrictions. It drew together evidence about long-term trends in food production and consumption, and how food safety and nutrition affected public health. It recommended that the government should adopt a more joined-up approach to food policy that pursued fair prices, safer food, healthier diets, and better environmental performance.
Source: Food Matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st century, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | DEFRA press release | DH press release | FSA press release | Sustainweb press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2) | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
The Climate Change Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to create a legally binding commitment to achieve the government's target of a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050; introduce five-year carbon budgets; establish a new independent climate change committee; and require the government to set out a sustainable programme of adaptation.
Source: Climate Change Bill [HL], Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 9 June 2008, columns 37-129, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jun
A trade union report urged the government to work more closely with employers and unions to start implementing policies that would allow the United Kingdom to became a world leader in the new 'green economy'.
Source: A Green and Fair Future: For a just transition to a low carbon economy, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Jun
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published its annual report for 2007-08.
Source: Departmental Report 2008, Cm 7399, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | DEFRA press release
Date: 2008-May
Linked studies found that personal carbon trading had the potential to engage individuals in taking action to combat climate change: but it was essentially 'ahead of its time', and expected costs for implementation were high.
Source: Synthesis Report on the Findings from Defra's Pre-feasibility Study into Personal Carbon Trading, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000) | Stephen Elderkin, Assessment of the Potential Effectiveness and Strategic Fit of Personal Carbon Trading, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Joshua Thumim and Vicki White, Distributional Impacts of Personal Carbon Trading, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Liz Owen, Lucy Edgar, Sam Prince, Caroline Doble and Ruth Whittington, Personal Carbon Trading: Public Acceptability, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Chris Lane, Bob Harris and Simon Roberts, An Analysis of the Technical Feasibility and Potential Cost of a Personal Carbon Trading Scheme, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Links: Synthesis report | Elderlin report | Thumim report | Owen report | Lane report | DEFRA press release | CSE press release
Date: 2008-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that personal carbon trading had the potential to drive greater emissions reductions than green taxation.
Source: Personal Carbon Trading, Fifth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 565, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Green Party press release
Date: 2008-May
A think-tank report said that the government looked likely to miss over half of the environmental targets it had set since 1997. Many targets were so vague or so long-term as to be 'all but meaningless', while others were the responsibility of so many departments and agencies that no-one felt responsible for policy delivery.
Source: Tara Singh and Thomas Sweetman, Green Dreams: A decade of missed targets, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2008-May
A new book examined ways to promote the behavioural shifts necessary for creating a 'sustainable society'. Sustainability policy needed to move towards a positive perspective, utilizing the well-known techniques of segmentation and social marketing. Such mainstreaming of sustainable lifestyles was likely to be the only effective means of engaging the majority of citizens in the environmental debate.
Source: Stewart Barr, Environment and Society: Sustainability, policy and the citizen, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Apr
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Stern Review into climate change policy.
Source: Climate Change and the Stern Review: the implications for Treasury Policy – Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report, Eighth Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 495, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2008-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs said that there was 'little sign' that the Treasury was responding on the scale, and with the urgency, recommended in the Stern report on environmental taxes. The Pre-Budget Report 2008 should establish a coherent set of measures to help deliver the United Kingdom's 2020 domestic and European Union targets on emissions and renewable energy.
Source: The 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review: An Environmental Analysis, Third Report (Session 2007-08), HC 149, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Friends of the Earth press release | CBI press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on climate change. It rejected criticism by the committee, and said that the United Kingdom had a 'sound international reputation' in leading on climate change.
Source: Government Response to the Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2006-07: The Structure of Government and the Challenge of Climate Change, First Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 276, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report said that many of the policies which could be used to tackle climate change – such as personal carbon accounts and better public transport to cut car use – could bring real benefits to older people.
Source: Towards Common Ground, Help the Aged (020 7278 1114)
Links: Report | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2008-Mar
The government announced (in the Budget) that a new scale of vehicle excise duty would be introduced from 2009, with rates graduated according to carbon emissions: but the planned 2 pence per litre increase in fuel duty would be postponed until October 2008. Retailers would be given a year to cut down on the number of plastic bags they handed out to customers or face legislation forcing them to impose a charge on every bag they gave away. The government announced its 'ambition' for all new homes to have zero-carbon impact from 2016, and all non-domestic buildings to be zero-carbon from 2019.
Source: Budget 2008: Stability and opportunity – building a strong, sustainable future, HC 388, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Budget Report | Hansard | HMT press release | Greenpeace press release | Friends of the Earth press release | WWF press release | CfBT press release | RAC Foundation press release | TCPA press release | LGA press release | Green Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3)
Date: 2008-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that businesses needed an extra stimulus, in addition to the climate change levy, to change their approach to energy use.
Source: Reducing Carbon Emissions from UK Business: The role of the climate change levy and agreements, Second Report (Session 2007-08), HC 354, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | EST press release | FT report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government should give primary consideration to the use of economic tools (such as environmental taxes and permit trading schemes) in combating climate change.
Source: Climate Change and the Stern Review: The implications for Treasury policy, Fourth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 231, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Friends of the Earth press release
Date: 2008-Feb
The government published a report which drew together evidence on public understanding, attitudes and behaviours in relation to environmental issues. It highlighted the potential for behaviour change among members of the public.
Source: A Framework for Pro-environmental Behaviours, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report | Annexes | DEFRA press release
Date: 2008-Jan