Also by John

Our executive director John on why Boris Johnson will have to work much harder on his climate change agenda if he is to have any hope of running the capital.

Boris Johnson claimed, at the launch of his campaign to run London, that he "will be the greenest mayor, far greener than Ken". His ambition is to be congratulated, but his claim invites scrutiny.

We all know that Boris is a keen cyclist - the sight of his unhelmeted blond locks blowing around the street corners of London is an iconic image. But a lesser-known passion is his professed "love affair with the car" which "will never conk out". As the motoring correspondent of GQ magazine, he tells us, "I have sometimes attained velocities which are incompatible with my new status as a tribune of the people". And in many ways he is right to highlight this apparent incompatibility - between his racy, energetic and spontaneous persona and a newly professed concern for slowing the progress of global warming. To win the mayoralty of a city like London, a candidate should be able to display a deep understanding and commitment to environmental issues, a serious appreciation of the threat that climate change poses to all of us and a coherent plan for implementing some solutions.

The Quality of Life Report is generating – perhaps predictably – a typically robust response from the right. Commentators are reaching for their keyboards to condemn detailed policy announcements on green taxes, aviation, energy efficiency, waste and planning, within seconds of the report being leaked last night. But very few are attempting to look at the underlying points made by the report and the message it sends about the future direction of our society.

By our executive director John Sauven, for Comment is Free.

The PM's decision over whether or not to approve coal-fired power stations is a litmus test of his commitment to tackling climate change.

Gordon Brown is facing his first major climate decision since taking office. As the Observer revealed on Sunday, the government is considering approving a new rush to coal that would guarantee that Britain would miss even its modest climate change targets. The prime minister's decision over whether or not to approve these new coal-fired power stations - the first in 30 years - could very well be seen as a litmus test of his commitment to tackling climate change.

For a leader who claimed to make climate change the totemic issue of his premiership, Tony Blair's domestic performance was an unmitigated disaster. Gordon Brown has inherited an energy policy in disarray. His task now is to urgently clear up the contradictions and produce a coherent framework to get Britain back on track to meet the necessary 80 per cent carbon reductions by 2050.