The UK's green sector has welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement that carbon emissions from central government will be cut by 10% in the next 12 months.
According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), this is the most ambitious commitment on UK Government emissions ever made – and will provide strong and decisive leadership on green issues helping to deliver better value for money and make a contribution to reducing the record deficit.
Government department headquarters will also publish online in real time their energy use so that the public can hold ministers and civil servants to account for their carbon footprint.
A government steering group will be established to ensure the delivery of this emissions target. The steering group will be chaired by the new Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne, and comprise representatives from key departments and the private sector.
The Prime Minister will write to all ministers to reaffirm this shared commitment and invite them to bring forward their plans to help meet this common target.
Speaking to DECC staff, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t want to hear warm words about the environment. I want to see real action. I want this to be the greenest government ever.
“In fact, we’ve made a good start. Someone pointed out when you mix blue with yellow – you get green.
“So today, taking our lead from 10:10, I commit us to a ten percent reduction in carbon emissions across central government in the next twelve months. You’ll be driving this forward. But I have also made sure all Cabinet ministers are involved, developing plans to show how they will meet their share.
“And the public will be involved too - because we're going to publish the energy use of government headquarters in real-time, so people can hold us to account for our performance.
“And to those who say this is insignificant, remember this: the UK’s public sector has a bigger carbon footprint than the entire waste industry; if we do this, we’ll cut the Government’s energy bills by hundreds of millions of pounds.”
The new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne has now started work, joined by Charles Hendry and Greg Barker as Ministers of State.
Chris Huhne outlined his priorities in his new role: “Climate change is the greatest threat to our common future. We have a very short period of time to tackle the problem before it becomes irreversible and out of control.
“A lot of progress has been made, but we must now go further, faster and turn targets into real change.
“This is a coalition to provide strong and stable government for this country. The benefits of the low carbon economy are agreed between both parties, this is a priority agenda common to both manifestos.
“Together we have the opportunity to make this the greenest government in our history. And to put energy security, for too long a second order issue, at the heart of the UK's national security strategy.
“I intend to make decisions put off for too long to fundamentally change how we supply and use energy in Britain.
“To make it far easier for people to make their homes more energy efficient to reduce wasted energy and cut their bills.
“To give the power industry the confidence it needs to invest in low carbon energy projects.
“To create jobs and growth right across the low carbon economy.
“And to use every influence we have internationally to get a global deal to tackle climate change.”
Reacting to David Cameron's pledge to make the coalition the "greenest Government ever", Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said: "We welcome Mr Cameron's pledge that the new Government will be the greenest ever - we urgently need to build a new low carbon economy out of the rubble of the old.
"But the starting point must be a more ambitious target for tackling climate change.
"The coalition Government must agree to cut UK emissions by at least 42 per cent by 2020 without offsetting - this is the minimum that scientific experts say is needed for this country to play its fair part in preventing dangerous climate change.
"To deliver these cuts, we also need local carbon budgets to ensure that councils play their part in cutting emissions and a new law to cut greenhouse gases caused by the UK's dependence on imported feeds for meat and dairy."
And Juliet Davenport, CEO of Good Energy, the UK’s only dedicated 100% renewable electricity supplier added: "We’d like to wish Chris Huhne all the best in his new role as Energy and Climate Change Secretary.
"We’re very pleased to see that the coalition agreement document contains commitments to feed-in tariffs and smart meters, reform of the Climate Change Levy and, perhaps most importantly, an increase in the target for renewable generation.
“These are clearly all areas where the parties can work together and Good Energy has had positive conversations with both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives on these issues in the past.
“Both historically have a strong commitment to strengthening local communities too, and we want to see that translate into more support for local energy projects that communities can really benefit from.
"We are also glad to see plans for a national recharging network for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles and hope that these will be supplied with 100 percent renewable electricity for maximum environmental benefit, with consideration for ‘time of day charging’.
"In all these areas the new Government should now move forward swiftly and decisively to implement policy. Good Energy looks forward to working closely with politicians and civil servants alike in the coming months."
Steve Mahon, Chief Investment Officer at Low Carbon Accelerator, the UK's first listed cleantech venture capital fund said: “We are encouraged by the coalition’s genuine commitment to showing policy leadership in the low carbon space.
“Both parties have placed the low carbon economy at the centre of job creation plans and have shown their support for microgeneration and home energy-efficiency improvements.
“We welcome the appointment of Chris Huhne as the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The Liberal Democrats set out the most ambitious carbon reduction targets in their manifesto and we hope that these will be reflected in the policies of the new coalition.”
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