Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support my noble friend. We have just debated an amendment that deals with the 60 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide that we are considering. We should not forget that this is a 60 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide not from electricity or big business but throughout the country. We have a slight problem in that there is no way of measuring that, as many noble Lords have pointed out. On Virgin Radio this morning, there was an advert from the Carbon Trust saying something like, ““If you’re a business, we’d like to help you to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you produce””. Perhaps that is the wrong way around. Business should have a moral obligation to do so if we are to push this forward. We risk producing a piece of legislation that does nothing more than be a piece of legislation, because there are other pieces of legislation. Local government has an obligation to try to reduce domestic carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent but no means by which to do so. The first thing we must do is find out who the polluters are. The amendment would help to do that. I am not sure that business would see it as a bad thing. I was at a dinner with a lot of CSR representatives from companies. I think they would see it as a good thing. This is true especially of some of the big companies such as BT and Ikea, which have a good message to send. BT has just advertised that it has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent. That is a good message which they should put to their consumers. However, there is a problem here. DBERR—or is it BERR? I never know; it has changed its name three times. I still prefer DBRRE, or Debris, but that is just a personal thing. It rolls off the tongue better and does what it says on the tin—and Defra measure carbon differently. How is business meant to measure carbon? Is it meant to follow BERR’s measurement of carbon or Defra’s? That is just a brief point, but it is no bad thing because the real point of the amendment is to make directors of companies think about their carbon footprint. I am a director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, the commercial arm of which has been pushing fleet training. We used to sell that very successfully on the basis that the more white van drivers you train, the fewer accidents they have. The training also pays for itself very quickly because fewer accidents mean a smaller insurance premium. We now have a much more persuasive argument for companies. People who have been trained in advanced driving, which is actually safe and sensible driving such as not putting your foot to the floor when you are coming up to a red light, produce 10 per cent fewer emissions from the tailpipe. This is a very effective argument, which companies have been taking on board in the past two years. The saving in carbon dioxide, as well as the saving in fuel, is now resonating with fleet managers, whom we never thought we would get through to on the environmental aspect. This is a good news issue, but one that must be thought about. We must appeal to company directors not only on main issues such as electricity but on every aspect from transport and procurement through to office management. This is an excellent amendment. If the Government do not accept it, little success will be built into the Bill in the next few years.