A growing number of voices have called for MPs to accept the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation to implement a decarbonsiation target in the upcoming Energy Bill.
The Energy Bill will be debated today and tomorrow and one of the hottest issues will be whether the UK commits to an explicit decarbonsiation target that would ensure an almost carbon-free power supply by 2030.
Ahead of the debate a number of key organisations, businesses, faith groups and charities have urged MPs to vote in favour of the amendment tabled by the chair of the Committee on Climate Change, Tim Yeo. The largest of which is a coalition of 55 organisations which includes SSE, Oxfam, National Farmers Union and The Church of Scotland. The group holds a united belief “that a low-carbon power sector is essential to secure the future wellbeing of our economy”, arguing that the Energy Bill represents “a major opportunity to put the UK firmly on track to becoming a world leading low-carbon economy, boost employment and show genuine leadership in the fight against dangerous climate change.”
The call for an explicit decarbonsiation target has been bolstered by the support of notable individuals too. Writing in the Financial Times, Sir Alan Sugar said: “Without a 2030 decarbonisation target, the Energy Bill will be aimless, leaving businesses and potential investors with prolonged uncertainty and no real commitment from the politicians who were supposed to be the greenest government ever.”
The energy secretary Ed Davey has come under significant pressure from his Liberal Democrat peers as well as Labour backbenchers to uphold his party’s stated support for a decarbonsiation target. The Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls, urged all Lib Dems to vote for the amendment, stating: “I call on every Lib Dem who supports a low carbon future to join Labour, businesses and environmental groups and vote for a 2030 decarbonisation target.”
In an apparent swipe at a growing number of Tory backbenchers expressing concerns about the validity of climate science, Davey said: “By selectively misreading the evidence, they [climate change deniers] seek to suggest that climate change has stopped so we can all relax and burn all the dirty fuel we want without a care
“This is a destructive and loudly clamouring scepticism born of vested interest, nimbyism, publicity seeking controversialism or sheer blinkered, dogmatic, political bloody-mindedness.”
