Below are some remarks from the Leader of the Conservative Party of our Commonwealth breathen in the UK. If any of our four federal parties with seats in the house could muster up half as much green gusto, Elizabeth May would not have the total monopoly on Canada’s political greenspace right now.
 

Beyond climate change: David Cameron calls for ‘second front in green revolution - a greener Earth a
In a speech to the Green Economy Conference today, Conservative Party Leader David Cameron, will say:

“For the past year, we have been pressing the Government to go further and faster on climate change - both domestically and through leadership at the international level.

Our efforts are bearing fruit.

This afternoon, the House of Commons will hear from the Prime Minister about last week’s EU agreement to cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
Tomorrow we see the publication of the Government’s Climate Change Bill.

These are welcome steps in the right direction.

But let’s not celebrate too soon.

We’ve had announcements like this before and they haven’t worked.

We must make sure that the measures announced by the Government have real bite – that they’re not just greenwash.

That means passing five tests.

First, at the EU level we need a proper Emissions Trading Scheme.

The current scheme is not working: the EU 15 promised to cut emissions by eight per cent on 1990 levels by 2012, but so far, we have only managed a one per cent cut.

One reason is that some member states are granting more carbon permits than are needed or sustainable.

So I hope Tony Blair will today set out plans to make the Emissions Trading Scheme more open, transparent and accountable and more capable of generating long-term incentives for business to invest in green technology.

Above all we need to tighten the limits on the number of permits that are issued, so that other member states match Britain’s good record.

One way of achieving this would be more open auctioning of permits, rather than allocating them by backroom negotiations.

The second test for government is to ensure a long-term price for carbon in our economy.

That means setting out the shape of the third stage of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, for the period from 2012 to 2020.

We must align the ETS with the 20% emissions reduction target and agree the carbon caps that will deliver the target.

And in Britain, we should convert the Climate Change Levy into a proper carbon tax, as the Conservative Party has proposed.

These measures will enable a forward price for carbon to emerge, giving investors the clarity and the confidence they need.

The effect of a long-term price for carbon should be to make products and activities that produce high levels of carbon more expensive.

This will spur innovation and the creation of new technologies that give people what they want – from travel to household appliances and energy at an affordable price and with less damage to the environment.

Accurate carbon pricing will enable a proper market to work.

A European market already exists – but the price of carbon is still far too low to support what leading businesses want to do.

So we need to ensure that the regulatory caps and allowances which drive the system are properly set.

The third test is to set annual targets for the rate of carbon reduction.

Look what’s happened over the past few years with targets that are set ten, twenty, fifty years ahead.

They haven’t been delivered.

The Government has put its 2010 target in (...read more...)