The British government has announced its ‘10 point plan’ for addressing the climate crisis. It includes some positive steps such as phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, a big increase in wind power and support for green public transport.
However, it doesn’t do enough to meet Britain’s carbon targets, or get the country on the path to net zero by 2050. It relies on ways of keeping business as usual – flying, driving, and high consumption lifestyles – but hoping to make them lower impact. This makes it unlikely that emissions will be reduced in time.
One way to accelerate ambition on the environmental crisis is the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill. Written by an alliance of campaigners, lawyers and scientists, such as bill has been developed. It calls for Britain to take a full account of its emissions, not just the ones that occur within our own territory. It rules out dependence on offsetting or theoretical carbon capture and ensures we take full responsibility. And it calls for a Citizen’s Assembly to assess the details of how emissions cuts are to be achieved in a democratic and transparent process.
The CEE Bill is a private member’s bill, which means it has an outside chance of getting through Parliament and it will need a broad coalition of support. A campaign has been launched to help build that support and you can find out more about it here. While it is a long shot, this is exactly the same approach that delivered the Climate Change Bill in 2008. It began life as a private member’s bill, written by Friends of the Earth in 2005.
Vanessa Elston recently gave a talk to Christian Climate Action, setting out a Christian response to the CEE Bill, and you can see that here.
Joy in Enough 