The de-industrialization of Britain starts today

Britain aims for CO2-limit target dates - Yahoo! News

LONDON - Britain's government proposed binding targets for reducing carbon emissions Tuesday in a bill Prime Minister
Tony Blair' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Tony Blair said would set an example to other world leaders by aggressively confronting climate change.
The bill outlines "carbon budgets" which cap CO2 levels and creates a new independent body to report to Parliament on the plan's progress. Blair said Britain's target is to force other European nations into action and — perhaps — the Americans, the Chinese and the Indians as well.
"This is a revolutionary step in confronting the threat of climate change," Blair told reporters at his Downing Street office. "It sets an example to the rest of the world."
The bill must be approved by both houses of Parliament to become law. A public consultation is planned, and the final bill is to be given to Parliament later this year. The government hopes it will become law by in the first half of next year.
"No other country has created a legal framework like this," Environment Secretary David Miliband said. "I think we will find a lot of countries want to follow what we are starting."
The draft legislation was welcomed by environmentalists and even the government's political opponents, but there were criticisms of the stated target levels.
By 2050, the legislation's target is a reduction of emissions by 60 percent, and by 2020, the target is 26 percent to 32 percent. All the figures use 1990 levels as a baseline.
Christian Aid, which conducts campaigns on environmental issues because the poor are often the most affected by global warming, wants an 80 percent reduction by 2050. By 2020, the charity said, the goal should be a reduction of 40 percent.
"If the final legislation is not significantly stronger, the process would represent a massive lost opportunity," said Andrew Pendleton, the charity's senior climate policy officer.
Friends of the Earth agreed, and called for emissions to be cut by 3 percent every year. It also said that international aviation and shipping emissions should be addressed in the legislation.
The opposition Conservative party, who have made the environment one of their key policy areas, said it would prefer if the targets for cutting emissions were rolling, instead of set for five-year periods.
"There is a danger that the five year approach will enable responsibility for failure to be shunted on from one Government to another," said Peter Ainsworth, the party's environment critic.
Meanwhile, a co-leader of the European Parliament's Green Party went a step further and called for sanctions against EU nations that fail to meet binding targets to reduce greenhouse gases.
French-German lawmaker Daniel Cohn-Bendit proposed a mechanism similar to the one the EU uses to monitor how member states adhere to the bloc's budget rules.
Budget deficit for countries using the euro currency cannot exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product. If a country breaks the rule, the
European Commission' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> European Commission starts a procedure against it that can lead to fines.
"If there are no sanctions ... what happens then?" Cohn-Bendit said.
Despite initial opposition from some member states, EU leaders agreed at a summit last week that bloc will produce 20 percent of its power through renewable energy, an increase from the current average figure of around 6 percent.