Government trying to water down EU carbon targets, again

The UK has again been accused of trying to water down the EU's climate change package ahead of a crucial vote on the proposals next month, after leaked documents showed it is lobbying for a greater proportion of carbon offset credits to be allowed to count towards emission reduction targets.

According to documents obtained by the Guardian newspaper, the government is proposing that firms and countries attempting to meet the EU's target to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 should be able to achieve up to half the required cuts by investing in carbon offset credits through the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Under current EU proposals, no more than a quarter of the target could be met using carbon credits, placing the emphasis on businesses and governments to reduce their own domestic emissions.

But the Guardian claims to have obtained a copy of a discussion paper dated 8 August and prepared by the UK on possible amendments to the EU climate and energy package that says: "There are many good reasons why we should support increased access to project credits," adding that the contribution of credits should be "limited to 50 per cent of absolute effort".

According to the government's figures, such a move would allow the EU to emit an extra billion tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2013 and 2020 as long as it funded equivalent emission reductions in the developing world.

A spokeswoman for Defra confirmed the government was proposing that the limit for the use of CDM credits be set at half the overall emission reduction targets, although she added that the plans were still subject to negotiation at the EU.

"Everyone recognises that to achieve a global reduction in CO2, significant cuts in emissions will have to be made," she said. "It is clearly sensible to do this as cost effectively as possible, whatever country these reductions are made in. The CDM helps to do this by encouraging clean technologies in the developing world by the use of project credits."

However, the news received a stinging reponse from environmentalists, who accused the government of seeking to undermine the EU's climate change strategy and argued that while funding emission reduction projects in the developing world may be cost effective, serious concerns remained over the extent to which they deliver emission cuts. A study last year by WWF argued that as many of a fifth of the carbon credits traded under the CDM were flawed and should not have been issued.

Keith Allott at WWF said that carbon offsets were no substitute for delivering verifiable emission cuts at home. "Europe has a responsibility to help developing countries move onto a low-carbon pathway," he said "But this cannot come at the expense of high emissions at home. We need to move beyond the idea of offset Europe."

The news is the latest in a series of damaging revelations over the UK government's attempts to water down the EU's climate change package. Earlier this year, leaked documents showed that the Department for Business had similarly proposed that targets to ensure 20 per cent of the EU's energy is generated by renewable sources by 2020 should be met in part by funding projects in the developing world.