The Minister of State at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Gregory Barker MP, has thanked Progressio supporters for writing to the Government about climate change and the urgent need to tackle it.
Progressio campaigners visited No.10 Downing Street in March this year to deliver a petition urging the Prime Minister to adopt the recommendations of the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) and put the UK on track with its carbon targets for 2050.
In a letter addressed to Progressio’s executive director, Christine Allen, dated 3 May, the Minister of Energy and Climate Change thanks Progressio supporters and explains the Government’s response to the recommendations of the CCC. "We are currently considering the advice carefully and will be announcing our proposed level for the budgets in the coming weeks ahead of setting it in law at the end of June as required under the Climate Change Act," he writes.
The Minister stresses that "the Government believes the case for action on climate change remains stronger than ever and that it is clear that the 2020s will be a key decade."
He also reiterated the Prime Minister’s commitment to becoming the "greenest Government ever" and wrote that implementing the provisions of the Climate Change Act and setting the Fourth Carbon Budget are "critical to the Government's strategy".
In response to Progressio supporters’ concerns for people living in developing countries who will be most significantly impacted by climate change, the Minister seeks to reassure Progressio supporters that the Government is working with the EU and other countries to build on the progress made at Cancun in December and towards a legally binding deal.
His letter concludes, "We are committed to working towards an ambitious global agreement that will limit emissions, and we are arguing for the EU to demonstrate clear leadership in tackling climate change, including by supporting an increase in the EU emission reduction target to 30% by 2020."
Photo: Christine Allen delivers the petition to No. 10 Downing Street (photo © Layton Thompson/Progressio)
