DEFRA: UK Climate Change Bill

18 July 2007

The Royal Society's response to the Draft Climate Change Bill

The Royal Society responded to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' consultation on the draft UK Climate Change Bill in June 2007.

The Royal Society response was broadly supportive of the principle of the Bill, although critical of the exclusion of other greenhouse gases, and of the failure to include aviation and shipping emissions in the Bill.

The response strongly recommended that legally binding targets be linked explicitly to emission stabilisation goals and the EU target of limiting increases in global temperature to 2°C.

The Society supported the need for a Climate Change Committee responsible for setting and reviewing the emission reduction targets but recommended that this committee have an independent scientific advisory role with membership heavily weighted towards scientific, technical and technological expertise.

The response also recommended that the Bill include greater emphasis on the issue of adaptation and that regulatory and policy measures be designed to facilitate adaptation across all sectors.