16 Apr 2010 09:04:10

Green Party sets ambitious carbon reduction targets

The Green Party has said that carbon emissions must be cut at a much faster rate than the government is currently proposing.

In its 2010 election manifesto, it said emissions need to be reduced by 90 percent by 2030, instead of 80 percent by 2050 as the government has advocated.

"This means an annual reduction of about ten percent per year from now until 2030," the party pointed out.

It said that only by achieving these cuts can the UK hope to prevent "runaway and disastrous climate change".

To do this, the Greens put forward a number of proposals, such as discouraging the use of fossil fuels by bringing back the fuel duty escalator and introducing carbon quotas for all UK households and businesses.

The party would also introduce a "massive" programme of direct government investment in large-scale wind and other renewable generation, with the aim of obtaining half of the UK's energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Environmental measures also formed part of the election manifestos of all three of the main political parties.

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html