UK Government will vote on Climate Change.

Please urge them to accept the independent advice of the Committee on Climate Change

In the next two weeks the government will be making a critical decision about the Climate Change Act, and we need to help them make the right one.

All the campaigning, marching and praying we’ve done on climate change helped create the Climate Change Act, with its legal target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and the independent body, the Committee on Climate Change to keep it on target.

Right now the government is considering the latest advice of the Committee on Climate Change on the size of the carbon budget in the 2020s. You can see the report which sets the Committee's advice on "The fourth carbon budget" covering the period 2023-27 http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/fourth-carbon-budget

A 'carbon budget' is a cap on the total quantity of greenhouse gas emissions emitted in the UK over a specified time. You can see an explanation of carbon budgets at:
http://www.theccc.org.uk/carbon-budgets
Each carbon budget covers a five-year period, with budgets set at least three periods in advance. The first three carbon budgets run from 2008-2012, 2013-2017 and 2018-2022. The latest report says that no more than 1,950 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent should be released in the 5 year period 2023 to 2027.
(CO2 equivalent is used because carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas. Gases such as methane are given an "equivalence" to carbon dioxide and then methane can be added to carbon dioxide to give a total of greenhouse gases.)

To hit the 2050 target, the government should accept this advice of
the Committee on Climate Change in full.

The decision on the next carbon budget (the fourth) will be made in
the next two weeks. Please take a minute to:-

1. Remind David Cameron and Nick Clegg of their pledge to make this the
'greenest Government ever' – and to ask them to accept the independent
advice of the Committee in full. See below for action options.

2. Forward this email to anyone else who might be interested in
securing the earth’s future.

3. Pray for our leaders. The cries from many quarters to water down
these fairly radical recommendations will be loud. They will need
wisdom and moral fortitude.

Thank you,
Ruth Jarman
CEL Steering Committee member and Climate Change Campaigner

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*** A note on the 80 percent by 2050 target:- ***

CEL and others appreciate that this target isn’t enough – even the CCC says in http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/fourth-carbon-budget that the 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 "would be appropriate as a minimum contribution to a global deal required to limit risks of dangerous climate change".

And that "the level of ambition in this (fourth) budget should be regarded as an absolute minimum, and more may be both feasible and required as current uncertainties over emission projections and abatement opportunities are resolved." The committee almost seems to admit that the world needs a more aggressive strategy than they are suggesting but this just makes it all the more important that the government accept the report in full, with no exceptions.

Action options:

There are a few different ways to get in touch with Cameron and Clegg:

1. Go to SCC website:

http://bit.ly/eRTp3K and simply fill in your name and address and send the message. You will get two emails in your in tray that you then need to open and click to get the message sent to No 10 and Nick Clegg.

2. Post your messages directly: Modify and copy the letter below to
Number 10 at https://email.number10.gov.uk/Contact.aspx and the
Deputy Prime Minister at

http://www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/contact-deputy-prime-minister

3. Modify and the letter below and send it by ordinary post to 10
Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA and Deputy Prime Minister's Office,
70 Whitehall SW1A 2AS

4. Fax number 10 at 020 7925 0918

--Note:- Posted and personal letters usually have the biggest effect.

Template letter to modify and send to PM and Deputy PM.
To post on web sites it needs to be less than 1000 characters.

Subject: Please accept the CCC recommendations

Dear Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,

I am a Christian/parent/grandparent/…. concerned about the future. You
have promised to make this the 'greenest government ever'. Please live
up to that pledge and accept in full the advice of the Committee on
Climate Change on the UK’s carbon targets, including:

* Delivering a 37 percent carbon reduction by 2020
* Setting a domestic fourth carbon budget of 1,950 MtCO2e
(Million tonnes CO2-equivalent)
* Agreeing to reduce electricity generated emissions to 50gCO2/kWh
and total emissions by 60 percent (from 1990 levels) by 2030.

Please also note that the report says that "the level of ambition in
this budget should be regarded as an absolute minimum, and more may
be both feasible and required ….".

Yours,

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Do please think about sending it.