Climate change pledge in jeopardy, admits Beckett

The Government admitted today it was on track to miss its key target on climate change.

In two successive manifestos, Labour made ambitious pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 to 20 per cent below the 1990 levels.

But Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett admitted today: "We are not doing as well as we had hoped."

Mrs Beckett was speaking ahead of the publication of a review of the Government's climate change programme, launched in 2000.

It is expected to show that emissions of carbon dioxide currently stand at only 7.5 per cent below the 1990 baseline – the same as when Labour came to power in 1997.

Growth in exhaust fumes from road traffic is thought to be largely to blame for the failure to cut emissions as fast as was hoped.

Pressure group Friends of the Earth predicted that, unless policies are changed, the UK will miss its target by a wide margin, achieving cuts of just 15 per cent by the end of the decade.

Mrs Beckett told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We are today publishing the review exactly because we recognise we are not doing as well as we had hoped and we want to do more.

"We have set ourselves pretty high targets. Actually we are well ahead of our main legal commitment, but we set ourselves more ambitious targets and we have to do more to try to reach them."

Mrs Beckett said she was happy for people to keep up the pressure on the Government because "we do all of us have to do more".

Tony Blair has said he wants climate change to be the priority for Britain's presidencies of the G8 and European Union next year.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) is calling for new policies to give incentives for the power sector and industry to make large cuts in emissions through investment in new technologies.

And the environmentalist group called for tough financial penalties for gas–guzzling vehicles, extra duty on road fuels and taxes on aviation.

FoE director Tony Juniper said: "Time is running out. If the Climate Change Programme fails to make significant cuts in UK greenhouse gas emissions, the Prime Minister's ability to persuade other countries to take the issue seriously will be totally undermined."

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker said: "Tony Blair ... cannot expect the public and businesses to take the environment seriously when his own Government departments have shown such disregard for the issue.

"Mr Blair's record on climate change shows that he will always take the side of the polluter over the environment. He has consistently pulled the green carpet from under Margaret Beckett's feet to appease the smoke–stack DTI."

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) insisted that business deserved recognition for making considerable efforts to help tackle environmental problems.

John Cridland, CBI deputy director–general, said too many environmental campaigners want to blame business for problems outside the control of companies.

"The environmental lobby is wrong to try and put business in the dock on the environment," he said. "British business has done more than anybody else to tackle climate change.

"It is business that is responsible for the innovative policy ideas that have a fighting chance of helping solve the problem.

"And everybody agrees that it is technology that will reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and it is business that is leading the way on bringing these to market."

Before launching the consultation, Mrs Beckett joined Mr Blair in unveiling a raft of "quality of life" proposals, including plans for cleaning up local communities.