North East failing to meet carbon emission targets - Radical policy changes needed
Government targets set in the Budget are for carbon emission cuts of 34% by 2020, and if the Copenhagen Summit this December delivers, a further target of 80% reduction by 2050 will be set.
However, there seem to be no policies to make these cuts. A report commissioned by the North East Climate Change Partnership shows that under current policies, regional emissions will have increased to nearly 39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2050.
Regional Climate Change Co-ordinator, Adrian Hilton, said:
"It is vital that it is recognised that we will not meet these targets unless significant and swift changes are made to existing policies."
"The study helps us to understand the scale of the challenge we face. It highlights that under a ‘business as usual' scenario, North East England will fail to deliver against the Government's carbon budgets."
Shirley Ford, lead Green Party Eurocandidate for the North East said:
"We need radical changes to our building, transport, energy generation and planning policies. And we need them now. Unless we start reducing carbon emissions within the next five years - the lifetime of the new European Parliament - climate change will get out of control"
Iris Ryder, Green Party Eurocandidate said:
"The Green New Deal offers the region its best hope. We should be investing in jobs that will create a low carbon economy not propping up banking or car-manufacturing."
Nic Best, third Green Party Eurocandidate said:
"The European Parliament has a key role in ensuring that the Copenhagen Summit this December agrees challenging international targets on reducing carbon emissions - and a vital role in putting the radical policies in place to actually achieve those reduction. Only a European Parliament with a strong Green Party presence will have the necessary will to fulfill these roles."
The ‘North East Greenhouse Gas Emissions Baselines and Trajectories Study' was published in March 2009 and is available from the Association of North East Councils.
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