Urgent Action on Climate Change

A message from Ruth Jarman at CEL (dated 16.3.11):

In the next two weeks the government will be making a critical decision about the Climate Change Act, and we need to help them make the right one.

All the campaigning, marching and praying we’ve done on climate change helped create the Climate Change Act, with its legal target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and the independent
body, the  Committee on Climate Change to keep it on target.

Right now the government is considering the latest advice of the Committee on Climate Change on the size of the carbon budget in the 2020s. You can see the report which  sets the Committee's advice on "The fourth carbon budget" covering the period 2023-27 http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/fourth-carbon-budget
A 'carbon budget' is a cap on the total quantity of greenhouse gas emissions emitted in the UK over a specified time. You can see an explanation of carbon budgets here http://www.theccc.org.uk/carbon-budgets
Each carbon budget covers a five-year period, with budgets set at least three periods in advance. The first three carbon budgets run from 2008-2012, 2013-2017 and 2018-2022. The latest report says that no more than 1,950 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent should be released in the 5 year period 2023 to 2027.
(CO2 equivalent is used because carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas. Gases such as methane are given an "equivalence" to carbon dioxide and then methane can be added to carbon dioxide to give a total of greenhouse gases.)

To hit the 2050 target, the government should accept this advice of the Committee on Climate Change in full.

The decision on the next carbon budget (the fourth) will be made in the next week.   Please take a minute to:-

1. Remind David Cameron and Nick Clegg of their pledge to make this the 'greenest Government ever' – and to ask them to accept the independent advice of the Committee in full. See below for action options.

2. Forward this message to anyone else who might be interested in securing the earth’s future.

3. Pray for our leaders.  The cries from many quarters to water down these fairly radical recommendations will be loud. They will need wisdom and moral fortitude