Far steeper cuts to carbon emissions needed, say climate campaigners

Climate campaigners have urged ministers to make steeper cuts in Britain's greenhouse gas emissions after the government's statutory adviser on the climate gave its verdict on new targets.

- Fiona Harvey

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has written to Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, to demand cuts of 81% in UK emissions, compared with 1990 levels, by 2035, if emissions from aviation and shipping are excluded.

Miliband must now decide whether or not to follow the committee's advice in setting Britain's new international commitment under the Paris agreement at a forthcoming UN climate summit.

A cut of 81% as an international target would be broadly in line with Britain's existing domestic carbon budgets for the 2030s, which are also set with advice from the CCC, and which are intended to deliver net zero emissions by 2050.

But campaigners urged the government to go further in order to demonstrate global leadership and spur innovation and a low-carbon economy. Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said: "With climate change spiralling dangerously out of control, the recommended 81% cut should be seen as the very minimum carbon reduction target the UK government should commit to. Ramping up ambition to make even deeper cuts in practice would show real leadership in global efforts to avert the worst of climate breakdown."