MPs urge Britain to introduce mandatory carbon reporting

A coalition of businesses and MPs has again demanded that the British Government set out a framework for the introduction of a mandatory carbon reporting standard.

The signatories of an open letter to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown from the Aldersgate Group challenge the Government's current position regarding the corporate disclosure of carbon emissions.

It is highly critical of the decision to weaken a provision in the Climate Change Bill for a clear path to legislation at the earliest practical opportunity. It argues that the Government's new strategy, which includes a review in over three years time, ‘does not reflect the urgency or magnitude of the issue, nor correspond with (Gordon Brown's) vision for robust and transparent carbon accounting under the (Climate Change) Bill.’

Signatories included Liberal Deomcrat leader Nick Clegg, as well as over 25 Labour MPs, including former Environment Ministers Elliot Morley MP and Michael Meacher MP.

Aldersgate Group chairman, Peter Young, who wrote the letter, said: ‘The fact that over 50 MPs have signed this letter is testament to the widespread support for mandatory carbon reporting. Business leaders, green campaigners and politicians are uniting around one clear message - it is time that businesses report their carbon emissions in a clear and transparent way.’

Former Environment Minister and Aldersgate Group member, Elliot Morley MP, said: ‘It is absolutely essential that we know how much CO2 companies are pumping into the atmosphere if we are to have any chance at all of combating the disastrous consequences of climatic change’.

Dr. Matthew Kiernan, chief executive, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, said: ‘With the near-certainty of climate regulation in America looming, the centre of gravity of carbon accounting can be expected to migrate across the Atlantic. Indeed, much progress has already been made in both the U.S. and Canada. In the absence of prompt action and forceful leadership, London could very well see its role as the carbon finance capital of the world become eroded.’