Climate Change Bill [HL]

Part of this is clearly in line with the previous group of amendments which we tabled. I again make the point that what still worries me is that it moves the clause into recommendations on government policy. One of the key characteristics of climate change policy is that there is no one policy mix, no one route to get to where you want to be. The balance between different energies, between energy production and energy saving, between technological standards and all these other areas of a very complex policy mix leads as near as possible to an infinite range of possibilities. We on these Benches find it difficult to understand how the climate change committee could then say, ““This is the way you must move forward from here””. We back the amendment on the basis of the Government’s justifying a gap between aspiration and actual performance. However, on policy, we find it difficult to understand how the climate change committee could come down to particular recommendations on how to move forward.