UK Budgets Fails on Climate Change

The UK Government described it as the greenest budget to date, but Chancellor Alistair Darling has failed to deliver genuine climate change proposals, according to green campaigners.

In his first budget yesterday, Darling outlined proposals to penalise high emitting polluting vehicles, maintain a climate levy on business and announced a fresh consultation on boosting renewable energy.

But Greenpeace says Darling has failed to restructure the economy to best deal with the threat of "catastrophic" climate change.

"It is not just that the green taxes announced will be ineffectual; it's that there is no recognition of the scale of the problem or fundamental changes needed if we are to decarbonise our economy," Greenpeace says in a statement.

Green group Friends of the Earth also voiced its disappointment, saying the chancellor has failed to put into action plans to tackle the threat of global climate change.

"This was billed as the greenest budget ever. But we didn't get anything like what is necessary to tackle what is the greatest challenge the world faces," says Friends of the Earth chief Tony Jupiter.

The chancellor has delayed a planned rise in duty on road fuel and backed further airport expansion, seen as the fastest growing source of climate-changing carbon emissions.

By Ozge Ibrahim