The UK Government believes that climate change is the greatest long-term challenge facing the world today. There is strong and indisputable evidence that climate change is happening and that man-made emissions are its main cause. The ten warmest years globally since formal records began in 1861 have all occurred since 1994. If left unchecked, climate change will have profound impacts on our societies and way of life, affecting agriculture and food security, leading to water shortages, triggering population movements and impacting on our economies, and our security. So action is needed now.

 

The UK has already taken significant steps to meet this challenge. The Government has led the way with innovative policies, such as the Climate Change Levy and agreements, Renewables Obligation and Energy Efficiency Commitment. Equally, the UK have built on our experience of domestic policy to foster greater action at the international level – most notably with the successful introduction of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which draws many elements from the domestic emissions trading scheme.

 

The desire is to go further. This Climate Change Programme sets out policies and priorities for action in the UK and internationally. Climate change is a global problem, so the UK will strive to secure global action on the scale needed to tackle it. But will also take further action at home, to meet UK commitments and demonstrate that climate change can be tackled without damaging the UK economy.