MPs call for a new Cabinet Committee on Climate Change
Wed 13 April 2005
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A new report from the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) into environmental taxation concludes that too little emphasis is placed on environmental aims compared with social and economic objectives. The report calls for the Treasury to take on joint responsibility with other departments for meeting climate change targets.
The EAC, which is comprised of a cross-party grouping of MPs, also says that the Government should establish a Cabinet Committee for Climate Change and draw together responsibility for energy policy including renewables and energy efficiency within one department.
The 'Pre-Budget 2004 and Budget 2005: Tax, Appraisal, and the Environment' report welcomes the extension of the DEFRA/DTI carbon reduction target to include the DfT.
The Committee says that revenues from environmental taxes have declined in percentage terms since 1999 and now stand at their lowest level since 1994. They say that the Treasury must publicly reaffirm its commitment to environmental tax reform which should form the heart of a new environmental fiscal strategy in which the taxation of natural resources is considered as valid a source of Government revenue as taxes on labour and capital.
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EAC press releases, reports etc
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