06 July 2007
Recent changes at the top of government present a golden opportunity for climate change to be pushed up the political agenda, a leading environmentalist said this week.
Giving evidence to the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, Professor Tom Burke, a former special adviser to the environment secretary, criticised current government structures as confused and opaque.
'We're getting a bit lost as to where accountability lies. It's important to retain mission focus,' Burke told MPs on July 3.
He said the new prime minister should take a strong lead. He also called for a director general for climate change, working out of the Cabinet Office, who would be the prime minister's principal adviser on the issue.
Burke was critical of the Treasury's approach, which he said was too theoretical in the way it subjected climate change policy to cost-benefit analyses.
'Climate change is not just another welfare problem,' he said. 'If we have policy failure on climate change we won't have other public goods – that's the reality… Climate change is a threat to the prosperity and wellbeing of 60 million Britons.'
In a note submitted to the committee, Burke said that to meet the challenge of climate change there needed to be an alignment of government policy on a scale not seen since the Second World War.
The committee is conducting an inquiry into whether the structure and operation of government is adequate to meet the challenge of climate change.
Simon Retallack, head of climate change at the Institute for Public Policy Research, echoed many of Burke's remarks, telling the committee it was 'critical' that Gordon Brown send the signal that he is serious about the issue.
But he said that there were still problems in driving through policy. 'The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs loses key battles because of opposition from the Treasury and [the former] Department of Trade and Industry,' he said, adding that there was a need to explore the options available to strengthen Defra's position within government.
Public Finance is hosting a round table debate on sustainability on Friday, July 13. Full coverage will be included in the issue of July 20.
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