Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

Our thoughts are with the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) at this time. He and I served on Edinburgh city council for many years, and although we were on opposite sides of the fence I wholeheartedly support the Bill and commend him for his work to bring it to this point. He would probably agree that there has been enough talk on previous occasions, so I shall keep my remarks brief. Many people in Edinburgh support the Bill. A number of the hon. Gentleman’s constituents from the Craigleith area were formerly my constituents, before the boundaries were redrawn, but they will all appreciate the support being expressed for the Bill today. I have had many e-mails and correspondence from constituents in its support. The environment is too important to be a political football. We have all watched the issue of climate change climb up the agenda, but people expect more than targets or reports. They want action. Under one of the Bill’s provisions, it will note whether action has been taken. It may move us in the right direction, but Labour came to power in 1997 on a manifesto that promised to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent. from 1990 levels by 2010, yet last year the Government said that the 20 per cent. target would not be met. The latest figures suggest that the UK is veering well off course from meeting its much more modest Kyoto protocol target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. from 1990 levels. If the Bill brings the Government and the country back on target, it will be a good thing, but I fear that the targets may not be met. I support the Bill’s provisions on greenhouse gas emissions, microgeneration, energy efficiency and renewable energy investment. They all show why further building for, and investment in, nuclear power is not the way forward. We often see television programmes about species endangered by the destruction of their habitat and are aware that action could have been taken to avoid that destruction. We should look to ourselves; we have been directly involved in destroying much of the natural habitat of our planet. We have caused much of the damage so we must do what we can to reverse it. If the Bill plays some small part in that process, it will be well worth supporting, but we want more than reports and targets—we want action.