All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group Is a Cross-Party ...

5. Conclusions and Recommendations
1. There was very broad agreement across the majority of submissions that a cross-party
consensus on climate change would be desirable, that this should be grounded in the
scientific evidence, and that the existing emissions targets provide important existing
points of consensus.
2. We note that the existing political consensus on a target 60% cut in greenhouse gas
emissions by 2050 may need to be revisited, in the direction of a cross-party commitment
to even tougher action, when the 4 th assessment report from the IPPC is published in
2007. We also note the need for an effective post-Kyoto international framework
agreement that includes concentrations-based targets for stabilising atmospheric
greenhouse gas concentrations.
3. Given the almost overwhelming support for the principle of a cross-party consensus in
the submissions, we recommend that the Government should seek ways to take this
forward in a constructive and practical manner and with some urgency.
4. We also recommend that the opposition parties should not abandon their efforts to find
common ground for building upon their initial consensus proposals.
5. There is already common ground between the major parties on long-term targets for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But scope exists for a consensus that extends
beyond targets to at least some means for meeting them.
6. A consensus on means for tacking climate change (which extends beyond simple
agreement on targets) does not have to be ‘all or nothing’. The best way forward would
seem to be to seek a consensus on targets, and on a long-term policy framework
including at least some of the principal means for achieving those targets, but without
stifling legitimate and healthy political debate or opportunities for innovation. We
recommend strongly that the parties pursue this course.
7. In the presence of an agreed long-term policy framework, each party’s detailed
approach should offer a reasonable chance of meeting the targets. In this way, the
electorate would retain some choice over detailed approach. Independent assessment of
party policies could influence both the policies and the parties’ electoral chances. Such
assessment could be part of the role of an independent expert body (point 12, below).
8. None of the presumed barriers to consensus is either too large or overwhelming to be
addressed successfully. Furthermore, examples do exist in the UK where a consensus
was forged (World War II, Northern Ireland) because of the pressing need to take longterm
and durable decisions in the face of a major national challenge.
9. We recommend that the Government and opposition parties work together to agree a
long-term strategy to support the development and implementation of effective
consensus policies on climate change, and to ensure that, through those and other
policies, the UK meets effective national and international targets. Ideally, a linked
series of milestones would be set, to which all constituents could subscribe and be held
accountable.
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