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Climate Change Bill [Lords]

I welcome the Bill, especially the contribution made to it by hon. Members through the Joint Committee on the draft Bill and the reports of the Environmental Audit Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. I also welcome the contribution of the many non-governmental organisations and of the scientists who have informed the debate so far. It is right that scientists are at the forefront of the evidence base for what we are setting out to achieve. Instincts also go a long way, and I especially thank the local climate change panel that advised me and helped me to contribute what I hope were informed comments to some of the early consultation stages that led to the Bill. The panel includes scientists and someone who works for the South West Observatory, which is based at Plymouth university. It is helping to prepare our public organisations and services to do what they will have to do to help us meet the targets that the Bill introduces. At a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association seminar, I heard Jonathon Porritt, who has given good service on our regional development agency, put the case with the greatest clarity. He talked about canaries in the mine. For me personally, the urgency of the position hit home when he made that speech. He spoke about the melting of the permafrost in Siberia, the Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice cap; the CO2 absorption rates in the oceans and ocean acidification; and the drying up of the Amazon rain forest. There are many more examples that one could list. People understand and want to learn what to do, and the Bill will, I hope, set the framework for encouraging them to take action constructively and change behaviour in a way that will make a difference. Plymouth is well blessed with scientists in both the health and marine sectors. I am particularly grateful to the Royal Society for the opportunity to link up with a Royal Society fellow, Dr. Richard Kirby, and learn about his work on the long-term plankton data set, which is held by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science. That also helped me to get my head round the important role that the oceans play. We talk about climate change, but 71 per cent. of the earth's surface is oceans. The complexity of the feedback systems, which are discussed in many arenas, is infinitely greater in the world's oceans and give increasing cause for concern. There are still some who say that the increasing scientific consensus is a conspiracy, but in my experience scientists are cautious and like everything to be peer reviewed. Increasing numbers of the scientists whom I know locally have come up to me over the past year and quietly said, ““Linda, we really are worried about what is happening. Urgent action needs to be taken.”” The Bill will prove to be just in time, but it is important to get it right. We are, of course, not the first to legislate on such matters, but the comprehensive nature of what is set out in the Bill is unmatched and is set to provide a framework that others will come to use. It is therefore important that the Bill is workable. Never, perhaps, has it been more important that legislation should be of the highest quality. The path to where we are today has shown how difficult the challenge for everyone is. Our delivery of emissions reductions has been challenged by the growth in our economy and our prosperity over the past decade. Growth in countries such as India and China will make it difficult to arrive at a post-Kyoto settlement, and our challenges will probably pale into insignificance. The Bali conference and beyond means that we need to succeed in establishing something that works and that engages across all sectors. Hon. Members have already talked about the need to tackle the issue across the piece, from the energy used in business and the home to transport, including shipping and aviation. Bald targets do not always do that, however. Ones that have been carefully crafted and fully examined, and take the realities of implementation into account are far more likely to deliver. A lot has been said about 60 versus 80 per cent. I would be surprised if the Committee on Climate Change did not recommend tightening the reduction, for the reasons that my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang) outlined. Indeed, he quoted Adair Turner himself saying as much to the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The debate about annual targets has moved on, recognising their limitations. The provisions in the Bill dealing with annual reporting to Parliament and the consequences of any slippage are very important in that context and should rightly engage hon. Members considering the Bill in Committee. I greatly welcome what my hon. Friend the Minister said about a stronger commitment in the Bill on aviation and shipping emissions. I take that as representing the Government's confidence that the work that we have been doing to bring about an EU emissions trading scheme as soon as possible, hopefully to be followed by an international trading scheme, is going well. Finally, I want to touch on the media. The hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) said that one has only to read the papers to find stories setting out the alarming situation that we all face. However, Maxwell Boykoff and Maria Mansfield of the environmental change institute at Oxford university have conducted some interesting research on the reporting of the human contribution to climate change in the UK tabloid press. They have examined the coverage between 2000 and 2006, and shown that it diverged from the scientific consensus. Although the scientific consensus on the challenges that we face became stronger over the period discussed, the tabloid papers did not reflect that; indeed, reporting diverged from that consensus. From interviews conducted as part of that research, Maxwell Boykoff and Maria Mansfield suggest that inaccurate reporting may be linked to the lack of specialist journalists. I am not sure how the provisions in the Bill could help to change that situation, but change it should. I hope that the further consideration of the Bill in Committee will at least encourage a better understanding, but that will happen only if the debate from here on is responsible and does not run away from the political leadership that is necessary to avoid people being put off by the unnecessary fog of political game-playing. I am referring specifically to the labelling of difficult decisions, which will be unpopular but necessary, as stealth taxes. That also applies to becoming too distracted by the argument about setting the target at either 60 or 80 per cent. The Copenhagen conference in 18 months' time will be stronger, better informed and more likely to arrive at realistic and effective decisions that are in our interests and those of the world in which we live if we get this Bill right.