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UK NGOs issue environmental challenge
ENDS Environmental Daily Thursday, June 5, 1997 A coalition of thirty environmental groups today challenged the new UK government to "make progress" towards sustainable development. The coalition published a detailed checklist of policy proposals at a conference in London held to mark World Environment Day. New UK environment minister John Prescott made his first environmental speech at the conference, and announced a "major review" of transport policy. In the European sphere, the NGOs called on the UK government to "play a leading role, particularly during its presidency of the EU [which begins in January 1998], in the development of an EU-wide approach" to reducing carbon emissions by "20% by 2005". The target is considerably more ambitious than both the government's stated goal and also the 7.5% target proposed yesterday by the Dutch presidency.
The coalition called on the government to support the development of an EU-wide system of carbon/energy taxation, a proposal that the previous administration strongly resisted. It demanded a "move towards full environmental pricing of transport, including air transport," and a reduction in employers' social security taxes, with lost revenue being recouped from taxing environmental "bads".
A second series of proposals made by the coalition related to the forthcoming Earth Summit II. The group called on the government to "urge all countries" to ratify the UN biodiversity convention, to "promote...discussion" of environmental taxes, and to "reiterate the UK's commitment to an internationally agreed tax on aircraft fuel." In his first significant speech on environmental policy since becoming deputy prime minister as well as minister for environment and transport, John Prescott announced a "fundamental transport policy review". The government will publish a policy paper next spring, he said, which "will provide a sustainable framework for decision-making".
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