Call for tougher carbon targets - Yahoo! News UK

LONDON (Reuters) - The government wants tougher European Union caps on emissions of greenhouse gases but cannot yet detail its own plans or whether it will submit these in time for a June 30 EU deadline, said Climate Change and Environment Minister Ian Pearson on Monday.
Each EU country sets a cap on free pollution permits to industry under the bloc's fledgling carbon market, designed to combat climate change.
The quotas are supposed to be less than projected emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), to drive businesses either to clean up or buy extra permits.
Most industry got too many permits in 2005, the first year of the first phase of the scheme, but countries have the chance to take tougher measures from 2008-12, as they propose their phase 2 plans, which the European Commission can reject.
"(It's necessary) we all tighten up the scheme under phase 2," Pearson told a climate change conference in London.
"We're urging the European Union to be robust when considering countries' plans. It's an important time for the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme). We do need to get phase 2 right."
In the past the government has said it would not meet the June 30 deadline to submit its plans, but Pearson would not comment on this timing when asked by reporters.
Pearson stressed to reporters the government's continuing commitment to bringing aviation's CO2 emissions into the trading scheme, while he saw a 2008 timetable slipping.
"It's going to be difficult to get it included by 2008. I'm very keen to continue to push things. Aviation emissions are growing and we need to tackle this area."
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