Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 171: 171: Clause 48, page 21, line 19, leave out from ““Kingdom”” to end of line 20 and insert ““including the risks of damage to, or deterioration of— (a) society, including the health, wealth and well-being of the population; (b) the environment, including biodiversity, living organisms and the ecological systems of which they form part, and natural resources; and (c) the economy; of the current and predicted impact of climate change.”” The noble Lord said: Our amendments in this group follow on from our previous discussion about the impacts of climate change. I will not speak to Amendment No. 181, which is part of this group, as we have already covered it. As we have noted before, these amendments concern the impacts of global warming and our efforts to combat it, which extend beyond simply the UK net carbon account. As we have already debated, the Government have included a section that places a duty on the Secretary of State to report on the risks to the UK of the impacts of climate change. However, the Bill is not clear enough on what precisely is to be included. Our amendments are designed to supply this clarity. When considering the impacts of climate change, it is essential to include the impact on society in the broad sense, as well as the health and well-being of the population. We are mindful of the rigour underlying the Stern report. We need to understand how global warming and our efforts to stop it are going to affect daily life. With this must come an understanding of how climate change will affect the life of people in this country as well as ecosystems and the environment. We have included in these amendments a duty to report on the impact on natural resources and the economy. By making this a part of the report, we by no means want to suggest that economic pragmatism will be driving efforts to stop global warming. Yet a forecast of the likely economic ramifications of climate change would be advantageous to business, to industries that might have a hard time with this legislation, and to the fight against climate change itself. Understanding the economic implications and their development enables us to identify areas for improvement. We need to ensure that we fully understand the extent of the problem so that our solutions will be firmly set in a real-world framework. We need to be as sure as we can that our efforts are going to work. I beg to move.