Chair of the committee Joan Walley said that some commentators are suggesting “we can relax our efforts to cut carbon, in the mistaken belief that this would be better for our economy”.
However, she said, “given that emissions are currently not falling fast enough to prevent a dangerous destabilisation of the global climate in the coming decades, it would be incredibly short-sighted to slacken our carbon budgets now.”
The committee’s warning comes as newspaper reports claim that the chancellor, George Osborne, is looking to water down climate commitments in a bid to cut energy bills.
The Financial Times reported that senior Conservatives are reviewing several green policies, including a levy on energy companies to insulate the homes of people living in fuel poverty, and subsidies for renewable energy. The Mail on Sunday said that Osborne may remove seven green taxes and levies in this year’s Autumn Statement.
Lord Deben, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, last week wrote an open letter to energy secretary Ed Davey, arguing that “there is no legal or economic justification” to change EU carbon targets, and that they remain “cost-effective, with manageable costs and impacts”.