Britain’s unelected climate policeman

The Committee on Climate Change – the unelected body appointed by the British government to police climate change targets – has set its first carbon budget (see 23 November 2008 post). It has demanded that greenhouse emissions in 2020 should be 21% below their 2005 level.

Although the report evidently acknowledges that fuel will become more expensive the committee’s chairman, Lord Turner, argues it should not compromise lifestyles or the economy. I suspect this claim is open to question.

The committee’s actions can be objected to on two grounds. First, it is an unelected body. Key decisions are made by the so-called “great and the good” rather than elected politicians with a democratic mandate. Second, its actions are likely to have a damaging economic impact by increasing energy costs substantially.