The UK will not risk going bust by cutting CO2 emissions faster than the rest of Europe, George Osborne has announced at the Conservative party conference.
In his speech this afternoon, the chancellor confirmed that the UK would be working to reduce carbon emissions “no slower, but no faster” than the rest of the EU, arguing that “a decade of environmental laws and regulations” were to blame for increased energy bills.
“Yes, climate change is a man-made disaster. Yes, we need international agreement to stop it,” he said. “But Britain makes up less than 2% of the world’s carbon emissions to China and America’s 40%. We’re not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business.”
Osborne's comments were condemned by environmental group Friends of the Earth, with executive director Andy Atkins saying: "The chancellor clearly can’t do his sums... Harnessing the UK’s clean power potential is the only way to boost our energy industry and keep costs down in the long run.
“Protecting the economy and the planet are two sides of the same coin – if the chancellor can’t grasp this, David Cameron is doomed to fail in his pledge to lead the greenest government ever.”
The chancellor's comments followed less than 24 hours after energy minister Charles Hendry argued that the UK must become a world leader in low-carbon technologies, such as carbon capture and storage.
“We can be leaders in these new industries or we can be followers,” he said. “If we follow, we import the technology and we export the jobs and the wealth. If we lead, we help create the technologies thatwill transform the global approach to energy and deliver real low-carbon energy security for decades to come.
“Britain led the world in the industrial revolution; as we face a new industrial revolution, an energy revolution, we are determined to make sure it does so again and to win those jobs for Britain.”
