Christian Aid welcomes Miliband's energy plan

New government plans to dramatically boost renewable energy in the UK and cut greenhouse gas emissions are extremely encouraging, says Christian Aid.

However, the development agency fears that the package announced on Wednesday by Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, may not protect people in developing countries, who are already suffering the effects of climate change.

"The government’s plans are good news for UK energy security, jobs and progress towards a low-carbon economy," said Christian Aid climate policy expert Alison Doig.

She warned, however, that they may not achieve enough to help keep the global temperature rise below 2C and safeguard people in developing countries from dangerous climate change.

She questioned whether the Government's goal to cut emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 would be enough to inspire "courageous" commitments by other industrialised countries in the talks leading up to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

"If ministers are serious about leading the world on global warming, then they need to lead for everyone – not just rich countries," she said.

"We are concerned that carbon markets remain a central plank of government plans for achieving its carbon budget targets.

"This opens the door to offsetting – which is a permit to pollute, shifting the burden of our emissions reductions on to poor countries, so we can continue with business as usual."