UK PM Urged to Back Down on Climate Goals

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is being urged by his own cabinet to reduce the UK's commitment to climate change goals on renewable energy, according to leaked documents.

In the documents - allegedly prepared for the prime minister by Business Secretary John Hutton – green energy sources to meet European targets are deemed expensive and face "severe practical difficulties", writes UK newspaper The Guardian.

The news follows a visit by the UK's Environment Minister for the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Joan Ruddock to a Scottish power station and hydropower facility this week, where she emphasised the importance of reaching climate change targets.

"Renewable energy production plays a key role in ensuring that the UK will have a secure and diverse energy mix in the future, and will help us to achieve our climate change goals," Ruddock says.

DEFRA has not commented on the leak.

By staff writer