Making noise about the climate change bill

It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned I Count, the Stop Climate Chaos campaign. But, since the campaign launched last year, the folks there have been busily working to inspire people to take much-needed action on climate change, with everything from I Count in the Square to the I Count clothes swap.

This week, they’ve turned their attention to the climate change bill, which is due to become law next year. As it stands at the moment, the government’s targets for reducing UK emissions don’t go far enough (they say 60 per cent reductions by 2050). On top of that, emissions from air travel – the fastest growing source of emissions in the UK - are left out of the targets altogether, allowing the aviation industry to keep pumping greenhouse gases into the skies unfettered.

Those clever folk at the Tyndall Centre have done the maths on this: if aviation emissions keep rising at predicted levels, emissions from every other sector would have to drop to zero if the UK is to meet the government’s 2050 targets.

I Count isn’t planning on letting the government get away with this slippery bit of sidestepping. They’re asking people to write to the government demanding that aviation emissions are included in the bill, and that the targets more meaningful. You can do your bit here (if you haven't already, you'll need to quickly sign up to I Count first).