Methodists Respond to Report on Draft Climate Change Bill

Anthea Cox, Coordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social Justice, has welcomed Thursday's publication of a report of the joint committee on the draft Climate Change Bill.

The Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and The Religious Society of Friends made a joint submission to the consultation on the Draft Climate Change Bill emphasising the urgent need for action and called for justice for those most likely to be adversely affected by climate change.

The report had taken on board a number of concerns raised by the Churches in their joint submission to the consultation prior to the report, particularly concerns that a cut of 60 per cent in carbon emissions by 2050 would not go far enough to prevent a dangerous rise in global temperatures.

"We're glad to see that this has been taken in to account and hope that the Government endorses the proposals for enforcing such targets and providing clear lines of accountability" she said.

Ms Cox warned, "Climate change is something that affects us all, but some much more drastically than others and it is often the poorest communities worldwide that are most vulnerable."

She said that the Methodist Church was "encouraged" by yesterday's report but called for more people to make positive lifestyle changes to avert the worst of climate change, adding, "It is important to remember that we all need to take responsibility for how our lifestyles affect our planet and our fellow human beings.

"We are grateful that the Churches have been able to contribute to the consultation.

"The Methodist Church's ongoing commitment is to support individuals, communities and organisations in working to meet the immense challenges posed by climate change."

The environmental agency WWF was more scornful of the committee's report, however, saying it had made a"baffling decision" by recommending a policy that it acknowledged "may not be adequate" to prevent dangerous climate change.

The environmental agency criticised the decision from joint committee on the draft Climate Change Bill, chaired by Lord Puttnam, saying it had "sidestepped" the scientific consensus that the UK needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 - not the 60 per cent proposed by the Government.

The WWF also said that the committee's "failure to call for a tougher emission target is particularly surprising" in light of the report's admission that the figure of 60 per cent "may not be adequate to prevent global temperatures rising above dangerous levels".

WWF warned that the Climate Change Bill must make a commitment to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 "to ensure that the country is pulling its weight in the battle against climate change".

A separate parliamentary inquiry by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee concluded last week that the targets in the Bill need to be "significantly strengthened" to be on track for limiting global warming to 2°C. The House of Commons committee also called for the UK's share of international aviation and shipping emissions to be included in the Bill's targets immediately.

In a scathing criticism of the committee's decision, Keith Allott, head of WWF-UK's Climate Change Programme said: "There is a real solution to climate change, but it involves dramatic cuts to global carbon emissions. The joint committee has accepted that a 60 per cent cut in the UK's carbon emissions is not good enough, so why on earth is it recommending that this should be the country's target?

"It is also baffling that the committee can describe the exclusion of international aviation and shipping from the Bill as a 'serious weakness' - but stop short of calling for these fast-growing sources to be included in the emission reduction targets."

He concluded: "There is no longer room for horse-trading on the need for to cut emissions by at least 80 per cent cut - the alternative is a future of dangerous temperature increases. If the committee can accept that, why can't it recommend it?"