Campaigners Want UK Government to Resist Coal Power

Campaigners from the World Development Movement claim that the UK intends to buy carbon credits from poor countries to meet the EU reductions targets, rather than actually cutting emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:
“Rather than making a positive decision in favour of the environment and the world’s poor, the government is planning to use a discredited trading scheme to continue to pollute.”
The campaigners are afraid that the government believes that it can continue to source energy from non-renewable supplies, like coal.  The activists’ viewpoint is that this may come about because the government would act without fully considering the climate impact thinking it can buy its way out through the EU scheme.
The World Development Movement stated these concerns in particular light of the Kingsnorth coal power plant.  They have concerns that the government will give a speedy go ahead without a public inquiry to the  plant. The World Development Movement estimates the power station will emit more CO2 than Ghana each year.
Benedict Southworth added that the UK government must reconsider its decision to commit to Kingsnorth before “fully getting to grips with the climate implications of a hasty decision.”  He believes that if coal power plants are given the green light, it would be highly likely that the UK would miss the EU targets to increase renewable energy.

www.wdm.org.uk