The chair of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) told MPs on Wednesday that if the EU accepts the UK government’s proposal for a 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 “we would have to seriously look at tightening the budget”.
However, Lord Deben was not expecting the EU to support the UK’s proposals and said to the Energy and Climate Change select committee: “Life is such that it is very often true that you don’t get the most ambitious answer.”
He added: “If the EU does the very least that is sensibly likely, the fourth carbon budget is still the place you would like to be.”
He added: “We would have to monitor that and if that were to arise we would have to advise the government on that matter.”