Climate News

Eco-protesters march on Westminster 6 December 08

Greenhouse gases 'must be cut' 1 December 08

Eco-protesters march on Westminster
6 December 08

Environmental campaigners will march to Westminster "to demand policies to match the Government's rhetoric on climate change".

Protesters will gather at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park and hold a rally in Parliament Square to hear speakers including Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Labour MP Michael Meacher.

Organisers said demonstrators were demanding policies including the scrapping of plans for a third runway at Heathrow, no expansion in coal burning for power, and massive investment in a renewable energy revolution that would bring hundreds of thousands of new green jobs.

Phil Thornhill of the organisation Campaign Against Climate Change said: "Thousands of citizens will be marching on Parliament to remind the Government that the current economic downturn does not make the catastrophic consequences of failing to deal with the climate crisis any less catastrophic.

"Nor does it absolve the richer, long-industrialised, high-emitting countries like the UK from their responsibility towards the literally billions of people, mainly from the world's poorest communities, who are likely to perish in a global disaster they have done little to create.

"Building more runways, burning more coal and accelerating deforestation through the increased use of agrofuels will perpetuate the failure of the current Government to reduce C02 emissions up to now - or worse.

"As the window of opportunity to avoid tipping into a nightmare state of uncontrollably accelerated warming rapidly closes we must embrace a green energy revolution which will point the way for the whole world to avoid disaster, whilst lifting us out of recession at the same time."

The National Climate March is part of a global day of action, with protests happening in more than 90 countries.

Back to Climate News main Index

Greenhouse gases 'must be cut'1st December 08

The UK must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 34% by 2020, the committee set up to advise the Government on climate change has recommended.
The Committee on Climate Change, chaired by Adair Turner, also said emissions should be cut by even more if an international deal on reducing greenhouse gases is agreed.
If the current UN negotiations lead to a new deal on climate change in Copenhagen next December, the UK's greenhouse gases should be cut by 42% on 1990 levels by the end of the next decade.
The significant reductions can be achieved at a cost of less than 1% of GDP in 2020, and using existing green technologies, a report from the committee said.
But stronger Government policies will be needed to move the UK to a low-carbon economy.
The cuts can be achieved by cleaner power generation from sources such as wind, which could make up 30% of the UK's electricity by 2020, and measures including energy-efficiency improvements in homes and offices and developing more efficient, electric and hydrogen-powered cars.
The report said nuclear power could play a role in low-carbon electricity generation, and did not rule out new conventional coal-fired power stations in the next decade.
It recommended the Government should make clear that fossil-fuelled power plants which do not have technology to trap and permanently store carbon emissions should not be allowed to generate electricity beyond the early 2020s.

New coal-fired power stations should only be built with the "clear expectation and certainty" that they should be retrofitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) by the early 2020s, Lord Turner said.

The climate change committee, set up under the Climate Change Act, has already recommended a cut of 80% on 1990 levels by 2050 - advice which has been accepted by the Government.

for full report

Back to Climate News main Index

HIPS £179 only
EPC's from £65 Order Here

Order an EPC

Energy Saving Tips

footer for page