Climate change bill: Targets need spelling out

The Government has been criticised for some time for not setting specific targets to meet the problems of climate change.

Yesterday, Environment Minister Phil Hogan published the heads for the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill.

This foreshadows the publication of the full bill, which is expected to become law before the end of the year. Dealing with targets for carbon emissions by the year 2020, it is the first climate change legislation published in this country, but it is sparse in specific details.

Necessary changes may pose particular problems for agriculture, so it is important that the targets be spelled out clearly. Mr Hogan emphasised the Government’s determination to meet all the binding EU targets, but those are not being specified in the proposed legislation.

Instead of essentially telling people that they should look up the targets set by outside agencies for this country, the Government should grasp the nettle and specify those targets in the bill.