Brave claims in Brown's big green speech

Yesterday marked Gordon Brown's first real crack at the environmental whip, and he's really pulled out all the stops to back as many green policies as possible. Here's a quick summary of what the PM is suggesting we do about climate change.

Brown on bags: Brown said that he is backing the current campaign to eliminate wasteful plastic bags. He is calling a forum of supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium and other groups urgently to assess how they could end the use of disposable bags.

Brown on Energy: One of the biggest surprises that came from the speech was the PM's commitment to making renewable energy work for the country. Brown stressed that he wants to invest significantly more in renewable sources like wind and solar power to meet greenhouse gas targets by 2050. Indeed, he said that "virtually all energy for electricity and most of the energy used for heating, cooling and transport in our country will have to come from low carbon sources." However, he would not completely rule out the nuclear option as part of this aim.

Brown on Carbon Emissions: At present, the climate change bill would propose the Britain cut 60 per cent of its carbon emissions. Brown argued that this figure should rise to 80 per cent: "Developed countries may have to reduce their emissions by up to 80 per cent. We will put this evidence to the committee on climate change and ask it to advise us ... whether our own domestic target should be tightened up to 80 per cent." This target is in line with thinking from many environmental groups, and is the figure that was demanded by Friend's of the Earth's Big Ask campaign.

Only time will tell, of course, how serious Brown really is about meeting this targets. While many environmentalists have praised Brown for 'getting serious' about the issue of climate change, Tony Juniper, the director of Friends of the Earth urged caution, saying: “If green speeches by our political leaders were enough, climate change would have been solved many years ago. We genuinely hope that, at long last, the Government will show real urgency and put combating global warming at the heart of all its policies.”