Dear Mr. Duddridge,
As you are aware, the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament last Friday as a result of the activity of two Conservative MPs whose favourite hobby seems to be "talking out" other Private Members' bills.
You may also be aware that leading CC scientists tell us that world CO2 levels are now at their highest for 30 million years and that 2005 saw a record rise in CO2 levels, by 2.6 ppm.
If there was ever any doubt that the current increase in CO2 levels was due to human activity, that must now be completely dispelled. In short, we are poisoning the planet even more quickly that was previously the case.
Please lend your support to the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill and impress upon your Conservative colleagues who are still in denial of human-caused Climate Change the extreme urgency that there is for us to tackle it. It is my view that such people are actually more odious than holocaust deniers: the holocaust only killed 6 million people and human-induced climate change will account for far more than that.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Walker
JAMES DUDDRIDGE MP
HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SW1A 0AA
Mr Peter Walker
Our ref: SP2193
Dear Mr Walker,
Thank you for you letter regarding the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill.
I believe that Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the UK today. EU scientists have agreed that a rise of above 2 degrees centigrade would be catastrophic, hitting the poor and most vulnerable the hardest.
As I understand it, the Government has agreed to reduce carbon by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2010 and by 60 percent by 2050. However, Labour looks set to miss the 2010 target, reducing carbon by only 13 percent.
It is clear that we cannot continue with a “business as usual” response.
The Bills aim to tackle climate change in three ways.
First, the Bills aim to create binding targets upon the Government. They call on the Prime Minister to produce an annual report on greenhouse gas emissions and present it to Parliament. This is in line with the Conservative call for an independent statuary body to monitor and enforce year-on-year carbon reductions.
Second, the Bills aim to promote energy efficiency. A duty will be placed on the Secretary of State to report annually to Parliament what progress has been made towards increasing the energy efficiency of residential properties in England by at least 20 percent by 2010, a target set in the Housing Act of 2004.
Finally, the Bills aim to promote renewable energy. They call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to publish a report on fiscal measures appropriate to assist with microgeneration and energy efficiency. The Government w.ill be required to set a national target for microgeneration in the UK; to provide community energy schemes and to allow households to sell excess energy from micro generation onto the national grid. There will also be a Renewable Heat Obligation, to encourage the use of resources such as Biomass.
A possible new approach to providing energy in an environmentally friendly way is by decentralising energy. I believe that decentralised energy has exciting potential. This is one of the issues that we are referring to the Quality of Life Policy Group so we can evaluate its long term potential to reduce C02 emissions and ascertain what changes would be needed to the regulatory framework to enable decentralisation to take place. I am pleased to say that on this subject, my colleague Gregory Barker MP, Shadow Minister for Environment, successfully amended a section of the Bill which now offers local authorities a say when considering measures to combat climate change.
I believe that the long term possibilities of Decentralised Energy and Micro-generation are huge. I would like to see a new competitive market framework created, which will respect both the environment and the need for security of supply and to unleash the technology of the future.
I believe that the implementation of the Bill would be a very positive step towards ensuring that the UK meets its carbon emission targets, which is why I give the Bill my full support.
Thank you, once again, for writing to me.
Yours sincerely
James Duddridge MP
