International development agency Christian Aid has accused the Government of "eviscerating" the Climate Change Bill by failing to include within it a number of measures crucial to the fight against global warming.
Christian Aid said it was deeply disappointed at the Government’s refusal to include a target for cutting UK carbon emissions of 80 per cent over 1990 levels by 2050, revealed by Minister of State for the Environment Phil Woolas at the start of the Bill’s second reading in Parliament.
The agency warned that the credibility of the UK's climate change policies would be "fatally" undermined if steps to ensure that UK greenhouse gas emissions do not exceed the level necessary to limit global temperature rises were removed from the Bill.
It also roundly condemned the dropping of amendment agreed in the House of Lords that would have made it mandatory for publicly listed companies in Britain to declare their annual carbon emissions.
Another disappointment, Christian Aid said, was the failure of the Bill to ensure that at least 70 per cent of its targets would have to be met through emission cuts within the UK, rather than by purchasing carbon off-sets from poorer countries.
Sarah Spinney, Christian Aid’s climate change campaigns manager, said: "The Government has eviscerated a piece of legislation that should have seen Britain blazing a trail internationally over combating climate change."
She added that the Government's "entire commitment to tackling climate change is now open to question".
