Policy Hub
On 30 July 2007, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) published a report (Seventh report: beyond Stern: from the Climate Change Programme Review to the draft Climate Change Bill (HC 460) which finds that revisions to projections on the target to reduce annual carbon emissions by 20% by 2010, were insufficiently frequent to allow the introduction of new policies.
However, the report says that measures proposed in the draft Climate Change Bill, and other developments such as the creation of the Office of Climate Change and the requirements of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006, are broadly well-designed and far-reaching responses to these issues.
Statutory annual reports to Parliament on emissions trends and the impacts of climate change policies should improve accountability and the quality of the policy response to changes in projections. Most importantly, the creation of an independent Committee on Climate Change should provide external challenge and expert input into Government policy, increasing assurance on progress and helping to depoliticise consideration of potentially necessary but, controversial, measures.
Beyond Stern: from the Climate Change Programme Review to the draft Climate Change Bill (HC 460)