The Committee on Climate Change have announced its interim advice to the government. It recommended that the UK should reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide) by at least 80% by 2050. This is a major breakthrough: the Committee is the government's official body looking into this issue. So, by giving its interim advice now, ahead of the key votes by MPs on the Climate Change Bill later this month, the Committee has given a major boost to the campaign to increase the reduction target from 60% to 80%.

One thing the Committee did not look at, though, was the use of purchasing carbon credits from international carbon trading schemes to meet the targets. But the Committee did advise that to achieve our climate targets the UK needs a fully decarbonised power sector by 2030. This will not be achieved if we rely too much on carbon credits so we desperately need a limit on their use.

The important thing to do now is to ensure MPs vote to accept the advice on increasing the 2050 reduction target to at least 80%. We also need to urge MPs to include emissions from international aviation and shipping in the targets and to ensure that at least 70% of the emissions reductions are achieved domestically, rather than relying on purchasing carbon credits.

This is the last opportunity we will have to influence the Bill. Please write to your MP today.

October 10th, 2008

Prime minister, Gordon Brown, signalled his support for strengthening the ambition of the Climate Change Bill, during his speech today to the Labour Party conference.

Brown announced that the Committee on Climate Change would report earlier than expected on whether the UK should set an 80% reduction target for carbon dioxide emissions by 2050

The Committee had been due to report in December on the 2050 target by which point the Climate Change Bill would have gone through Parliament and become an Act - quite likely with an unambitious 60% target that is based on out of date science. Now, however, the Committee's advice will be given in October in time to influence the crucial vote in the House of Commons on the Climate Change Bill.

Clout of Committee

It would then be extremely difficult for the government and for MPs not to accept a recommendation for 80% if this is what the Committee says is necessary. Indeed, it looks like the government, by bringing forward the date for advice, is preparing to accept a much more ambitious target for the UK, more in line with the latest science, and this can only be welcomed.

Still there is everything to play for and MPs still have to vote on the 2050 target during the remaining stages of the Climate Change Bill in late October so all the more reason for taking action...

September 23rd, 2008

Two important issues were debated about the Bill on Tuesday 8 July - mandatory carbon disclosure and the role of the UK government department; the Exports Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD).

The opposition parties had successfully added a clause in the House of Lords (clause 80) to require mandatory carbon reporting by large companies. This was intended to allow for the better comparison between those companies helping to reduce their environmental impact and those that were not - in order to encourage good corporate behaviour.

Need for carbon reporting

However, the government is not yet fully convinced of the necessity for requiring this reporting and removed the clause. The government instead plans to establish guidance for companies on voluntary reporting but aims to revisit the idea of compulsory reporting in 2010.

WWF believes that the case for mandatory carbon disclosure is very strong, particularly as many progressive companies are actually calling for such disclosure themselves. WWF-UK is disappointed that this was removed from the Bill.

Call for transparency

More encouragingly, the government conceded to cross-party pressure from members of parliament that one of its little known, but influential departments, the ECGD, should become more transparent and there should be greater reporting on the environmental impacts of the projects it supports.

The ECGD helps facilitate the UK's exports but WWF has become concerned that much of this support goes to carbon intensive industries such as the oil and gas sector. The government has now agreed to report on the direct and indirect emissions arising from these projects. WWF-UK believes that this is a welcome first step on the road to ensuring the ECGD is fully aligned with the government's wider objectives on climate change.

The Bill now is about to enter its most crucial phase. It is expected to have its Report Stage in the House of Commons in early October and this is when MPs will have a final vote on ambitious they want the Bill to be.

WWF-UK is lobbying MPs to change the targets for carbon dioxide emission reductions to 80% by 2050, to include aviation and shipping in these targets and to ensure the vast majority of the reductions are achieved in the UK.

You can really help by writing to your MP.....

July 14th, 2008

The third day of committee was dominated by discussion on whether CO₂ emissions from international aviation and shipping should be included in the targets of the Bill and what amount of domestic effort the UK should make in meeting its targets.

The minister accepted an amendment, inserted in the House of Lords, which requires the government to include aviation and shipping into the targets within five years or explain why not to parliament - effectively an opt out.

The government said it will look into the case for including aviation and shipping in the Bill and how it could be done, but it made it clear that this was not a guarantee they would be included in the end. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, pushed for aviation and shipping to included within four years and for the opt out to be removed to ensure they are indeed added to the targets. This would have strengthened the Bill had it been accepted, but unfortunately it was voted down by the government.

The government then removed the clause in the Bill (clause 25) which had required 70% of the emissions reductions to be achieved in the UK. It replaced this with a duty on the Secretary of State to 'have regard to the need for UK domestic action on climate change' when deciding on policies. WWF-UK strongly supported clause 25 (as did other green NGOs, development NGOs and even some companies) and is extremely disappointed that it has been removed despite the support of the opposition parties. The 'have regard' duty, in WWF-UK's opinion, is next to meaningless and could easily be side stepped should the government want to build another coal fired power station such as at Kingsnorth.

So more work to do.....

July 9th, 2008

The Climate Change Bill is now at committee stage in the Commons.

Selected MPs from across the political parties are debating and amending the Bill, clause by clause. There's therefore still a need for MPs to hear your calls to support strong amendments.

Labour has a majority on the committee, reflecting its strength in the House of Commons. It can pretty much do anything it wants at this stage. Unfortunately, that seems to mean taking out most of the improvements made to the Bill in the House of Lords.

So far, the 'two degrees' objective has been removed. In addition, the government opposed the strengthening of the 2050 target to 80%, which WWF supports. The Liberal Democrats and some Labour MPs backed this amendment. The Conservatives, who will be key to this debate when the Bill comes back to the full House of Commons, abstained on the issue.

There is certainly still all to play for on the question of what targets we set ourselves.

June 26th, 2008

After weeks of waiting, MPs had the chance to debate the Climate Change Bill on 9th June.

The Second Reading saw broad consensus from all the main parties that the Bill is fundamental to helping the UK address climate change. But things got interesting when discussions focused on whether it should be strengthened.

Phil Woolas MP introduced the Bill to the Commons and explained what the government intended to do with amendments the House of Lords had forced into the legislation against the government's will.

Unfortunately the government intends to remove the 2°C objective, which sets the overall purpose and guidance for the Bill. The Prime Minister, who is ultimately responsible for meeting the targets in the Bill, opposed this objective.

The government would accept the amendment that called for aviation and shipping to be included in the targets within five years. WWF believes that aviation must be included immediately and we note that the amendment allows the government to opt out and merely explain why it couldn't meet the five-year deadline - too much of a loophole for our liking.

On the use of carbon credits, the government indicated that it would oppose the requirement that 70% of the reductions happen in the UK. But it is prepared to say it is aiming for a low-carbon UK economy. As always, the detail on this will be critical - so we look forward to scrutinising it.

Finally, the Bill in its current form enables the government to require mandatory carbon disclosure on big companies, but the government appears reluctant to impose a standard. Instead, it intends to develop a common standard and then reconsider the compulsory element in 2010. WWF believes there is no reason why the enabling clause should not remain.

The Conservative front bench welcomed the Bill and stated that they intend to defend the amendments made in the House of Lords by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers. So they will oppose the government when it tries to remove the 2°C objective and the 70% domestic effort requirement. But they will not push for a target of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 or the immediate inclusion of aviation - two key elements WWF wants to see in the Bill.

So it's still vital that you lobby your MP to call for the carbon emissions target to be at least 80% from the start.

It was left to the Liberal Democrats to demand that the 80% target is added to the Bill and that aviation emissions are included from the outset.

The Bill will now go to a standing committee of MPs, in which the government will have the upper hand. Some amendments may be removed, but the issues will return when the Bill has its Third Reading. WWF and others in the Stop Climate Chaos coalition will keep up the pressure for the legislation to be strengthened.

June 26th, 2008

In the third day of reporting on the Bill in the House of Lords, the government was again defeated on two amendments aimed at strengthening the Bill - amendments will now be written into the Bill for consideration by the House of Commons in April.

The most significant of these was an amendment that defines the proportion of the annual carbon reductions in a carbon budget period that must come from genuine UK domestic reductions. In addition, peers inserted an amendment to the Bill that would add a sub-committee to the Climate Change Committee to look specifically at adaptation.

The Lords passed the amendment to define that 70% of the reductions must come from reductions in the UK - something WWF and others within the Stop Climate Chaos coalition have been calling for.

As with previous amendments which may be removed by the government when the Bill goes to the House of Commons, WWF will continue to lobby for this amendment to be retained.

March 12th, 2008

Last night, an amendment was added to the Climate Change Bill in the House of Lords which inserts a 'principal aim' of the legislation.

The clause, which was voted on by peers, resulting in a defeat of the government, sets out that the objective of the legislation is "to ensure that UK emissions of greenhouse gases do not exceed the level necessary to contribute to limiting the global average temperature increase to not more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels."

Though it is likely the government will move to take this amendment out of the Bill when it goes to the Commons, this represents a significant success in making the case to parliamentarians that the Bill should include an objective. WWF will lobby to retain the amendment when the Bill passes to the House of Commons. Letting your MP know that you support measures aimed at strengthening the legislation will help convince them to accept this change. Email your MP today

February 26th, 2008

As the committee stage of the Climate Change Bill in the Lords stretches to a sixth day, leading scientists have come out in support of the demand from WWF and Stop Climate Chaos that the Bill must include a target to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, rather than the current 60% figure.

Their support is particularly notable as among the scientists who have signed the statement are the current chair and two former chairs of the body that originally recommended a 60% cut in emissions - the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP).

However, the RCEP recommendation came in a report from 2000, and the signatories recognise that the science has now moved on. They consider that a 60% figure should not just be left for a further committee to investigate once the Bill has been passed.

WWF will be circulating this information to Peers before the crucial votes on the Report stage on this issue.

An open letter from the scientists has been sent to all three party leaders and published in the Telegraph, Guardian, Financial Times, Independent and Times. It states that:

"In tackling the global challenge of climate change, governments must follow the latest science that clearly shows the need for the UK to reduce its CO₂ emissions by at least 80% by 2050. This will require much more substantial action by 2020 than the government is currently considering."

To find out more: read our press release or take action

The first issue for debate was whether the Bill should set annual milestones to keep the government on course to meet its five-year targets. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were in favour of annual milestones in some form, but the government thought they were unworkable and unnecessary.

The Peers returned to the question of how much of the UK's carbon reduction efforts would be achieved domestically and how much would be achieved by buying carbon credits from abroad. Lord Rooker, the minister representing the government "for whom I am masquerading as their spokesman on Earth, while we still have one", said that they would decide how many credits to use for each five-year budget. In a slight embarrassment for the government, Lord Rooker couldn't say if it intended that the majority of carbon reductions should be achieved in the UK. Many peers wanted a firm limit on the use of these credits. He promised to clarify its position.

Having discussed the 2050 reduction target, the Lords looked at the intermediary 2020 target in the Bill, with the Lib Dems seeking to raise the target to 40%. The government said the 2020 target would have to be reviewed if the one for 2050 was increased up to 80%.

Finally, the Lords discussed how the Bill would be enforced should a target be missed. The government was satisfied that the threat of judicial review and the court of public opinion would be sufficient to ensure the government complied with the Bill. Other peers were less optimistic and called for various measures to penalise the government if it failed to deliver, so as to provide incentives for it to act.

The Climate Change Bill has now gone to the Committee Stage in the House of Lords which, unlike in the Commons, involves the whole House debating the legislation. Peers will spend the next few weeks discussing the merits of amendments to the Bill. It's a key time in exploring the arguments and for and against strengthening the Bill.

On the first day, the Lords discussed whether there should be an objective in the Bill to ensure that the UK plays its part in keeping the increase in average global temperature below 2°C. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives supported this but the government, whose spokesperson is Lord Rooker, said it was unworkable.

There was also a discussion on whether the 2050 emissions reduction target should be 80% or 60%. Both the government and the Conservatives thought the new Committee on Climate Change should say whether an updated target is needed, rather than adding the 80% figure to the Bill there and then. This led to an interesting discussion about whether or not the Bill should have any target in it: what was the point of passing a Bill with a target that everybody knew was out of date? But some speakers believed that passing a Bill with no targets, and waiting for a committee to say what those targets should be, would make a mockery out of the legislation.

The debate moved on to how much the UK could buy its way out of meeting its targets through using imported carbon credits. A couple of Peers were extremely sceptical of the use of carbon credits. The government said it would be cheaper to meet the targets by using them but did not say whether it would set a limit on their use, which is a concern to many peers.

Today the Climate Change Bill received its Second Reading in the House of Lords - the first opportunity that Parliamentarians have had to formally debate the legislation with the actual Bill before them.

There was clear consensus by all the speakers, many of whom are scientists, that climate change is a real danger for the world, for the UK, for the poor and for the environment.

Many Lords spoke of the need to strengthen the targets in the Bill to an 80% cut in UK carbon emissions by 2050. The Liberal Democrats officially support adding this to the Bill and the Conservatives want the proposed Committee on Climate Change to be beefed up and to set the reduction targets itself.

On aviation, both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives supported the need to include the UK's share of international emissions in the targets. They pointed to the logic that all the good work done by other sectors would be undermined otherwise.

Finally, many Lords took a strong position on the buying of carbon credits from other countries to help the UK to meet its domestic targets. They were concerned that this would mean that the UK didn't make the decisions needed to become a low carbon economy because we could buy our way out of trouble, and so advocated a clear limit on their use.

Encouragingly, at the end of the debate Lord Rooker, the Environment Minister in the Lords, acknowledged the desire of the Lords to strengthen the Bill and said he looked forward to the Committee Stage to see how this might be done.

At a WWF summit on how to build a One Planet Future, Gordon Brown gave his first speech on the environment since becoming Prime Minister. He set out his commitment that the UK would play its part in tackling climate change and his desire that Britain should lead what he called a 'fourth industrial revolution' - that of achieving a low carbon economy. He strongly supported the need to prevent global temperatures rising more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels and clearly stated that the UK would meet is share of the EU renewable target for 2020.

Of particular importance for the Climate Change Bill, he acknowledged that the current 60% emissions reduction target for 2050 may be insufficient and that 80% should be looked at. He indicated that the new Committee on Climate Change will look at the evidence next year and make a recommendation before it sets the UK's first three five-year budgets.

WWF believes that the PM's speech represents a big shift in right direction on the environment and tackling climate change. However, we believe the 80% target should be in the Bill and that international aviation and shipping should be included from the outset as we know enough now to be able to make these decisions.

In addition to the PM's speech, WWF's campaign to strengthen the Climate Change Bill reached Parliament today. We took WWF's giant paper boat and plane, covered in the names of over 6,000 people who had signed our petition for a stronger Bill, for MPs to see. The MPs clearly liked the idea of the 3D petitions and also signed up to the campaign.

We then took the boat and plane on to Hyde Park where, with fingers crossed, we put the boat on the Serpentine. We were relieved to see that it floated. A crew from BBC Newsnight was on hand to record the event for that evening's programme.

It has been confirmed that the Climate Change Bill will go first to the House of Lords. It receives its First Reading today, which is a formality, and the actual Bill will be published tomorrow. The Second Reading, where Peers will discuss the principles of the Bill, will be on the 27tth of November.

It is unusual for such a high-profile piece of legislation to start in the Lords, in which the Government does not have an overall majority, in the same way as they do in the Commons. Much will then depend on what the Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers do with regard to the 80% target and the inclusion of aviation and shipping. We will be concentrating a lot of our campaigning on the Lords in the next few months.

The Climate Change Bill was formally announced by the Queen in her annual State opening of Parliament on Tuesday 6 November. In the following debate on the speech in Parliament, the Prime Minister described the legislation as the first of its kind anywhere in the world. It will set legally binding targets to reduce the UK's CO₂ emissions.

The Bill was welcomed by both main opposition parties, demonstrating that it has achieved important cross-party consensus. The Green Party later called for the Bill to be strengthened to include a more ambitious target to avoid dangerous climate change.

Of interest now is whether the Bill is debated and scrutinised first in the House of Commons or the House of Lords.

On 29 October the UK government set out its final proposals for the Climate Change Bill. This was a key moment for WWF as it showed whether the government had taken on board its suggestions to improve the Bill.

Hilary Benn MP, the Secretary of State for Defra, speaking at Kew Gardens, said that the Bill had been strengthened in light of the recommendations made by various groups. There would be greater transparency on how the government made decisions on the UK's future carbon budgets and, significantly, the Committee on Climate Change (which will advise on how the government is to meet its targets) would be made more independent.

The crucial emissions reduction target for 2050, however, would remain at 60% but would be reviewed by the Committee on Climate Change at a later date. In addition, the UK's emissions from international aviation and shipping would not be included in the target but aviation would be added to the Bill if the sector was included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in a few years.

WWF's Chief Executive David Nussbaum was on a panel at Kew Gardens that was able to respond to Hilary Benn's speech. David congratulated the government on introducing what is truly the first piece of legislation of its kind in the world, but called for the Bill to be strengthened. The science, he said, showed that a 60% reduction by 2050 was insufficient and an 80% target should be added to the Bill now.

He concluded that it was better to include 80% and aviation and shipping in the Bill now rather than later. These points were echoed by the IPPR and Friends of the Earth, who were also on the panel.

Looking forward, the Climate Change Bill will now be announced formally in the Queen's Speech on 6 November and will then be debated in Parliament. WWF will seek to encourage MPs from all parties to support amendments to strengthen the Bill, particularly the 80% target and the inclusion of aviation and shipping.

We expect that the Climate Change Bill will be introduced to Parliament in early November.

It will receive its crucial Second Reading in the House of Commons in mid-November, when MPs get to debate its merits. We’ll be delivering our giant boat and plane to parliament around this time to make sure MPs hear our call to ensure they include emissions from international aviation and shipping in the bill.

After the second reading, the Bill heads to a Standing Committee - a cross-party selection of MPs who scrutinise the Bill line by line and make amendments. The final opportunity to improve the Bill in the House of Commons is the Report Stage (probably in late December or early in 2008), when MPs vote on key amendments.

The Bill then heads to the House of Lords, probably in the new year - we’ll let you know more about that nearer the time.

The Climate Change Bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation to come before Parliament. WWF will be campaigning hard in Parliament to strengthen the Bill to ensure the UK does its fair share in tackling climate change.

We will closely follow the Bill’s progress - from the Queen’s Speech to crucial debates and votes in the House of Commons and the House of Lords - and WWF will seek to influence it at every opportunity. Be it a Parliamentary reception, a new report, or the latest intelligence, our parliamentary team will use this page to report how things are shaping up with the Bill.