Christian Aid Welcomes Climate Bill, Emphasises Lives at Risk

Christian Aid has welcomed the inclusion of the Climate Change Bill in the Queen's Speech, emphasising that the main rationale should be that the halt of global warming will save millions of lives in developing countries.

The government announced its Climate Change Bill in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday. The Bill will include a pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 and set up the Carbon Committee, an independent body to work with the government to reduce emissions.

"It's great to have the government focussing on climate change but the catastrophe of greenhouse gas emissions is not just about whether the UK has enough fossil fuel. It's about the lives and livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people in developing countries," said Christian Aid's senior climate analyst Andrew Pendleton speaking from the UN Climate Conference in Nairobi.

'"If the bill is only underpinned by a desire to hoard fuel stocks then we fear that it will lack the teeth it needs to bring down urgently the dangerous greenhouse gas emissions that impact so savagely on poor peoples' lives," he said.

Mr Pendleton also reacted to leaks suggesting the new climate bill will contain a watchdog body to scrutinise Britain's progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is a good idea but a test of the government's acknowledgement that Britain's emissions harm poor people on the other side of the world would be to include a direct representative of poor people on this body."

"If anyone has a right to have a say in how fast we should cut our emissions in the UK, it must be poor people who suffer from it most but who have done least to cause global warming," he said.

He also mentioned that the Bill's provisions to check annual progress of emissions cuts should be stronger than the five-year checks on progress hinted at by the government so far.

"Measurable annual targets are the most effective mechanism for ensuring the government keeps to its word."

"It is simply too dangerous to name a vague date in the future which, on current form, the government is unlikely to meet. Climate change imposes a duty on all of us to make real and substantive cuts now and in the long term. To legislate otherwise would be to risk the lives of millions of the world's most vulnerable people," said Pendleton.

"The government needs urgently to commit to measurable annual targets so we can be sure it will keep to its word."