Derek Smith and Margaret Hibbert met Sir Paul Beresford on 26 September 2008.  Our main purpose was to ask him to press for a better Climate Change Bill.  This will have its final report stage within a month or two when in theory any MP has a last chance to propose changes before the vote.  Sir Paul told that in practice he will not be given the opportunity to speak, but he said he would pass our concerns (copied below) to Peter Ainsworth, the Shadow DEFRA Minister.

We also told him of our coming Parity Projects meeting.  He seemed interested and said he may come.

We pointed out that according to his entry on the 'theyworkforyou' website, he has never made a speech or asked a parliamentary question on climate change.  As he agrees that this is a massive concern, we asked if he would start to do this.  He said no, as he has not the time to expand his present areas of interest.

The following summarises what we discussed with Sir Paul on the Climate Change Bill

Recent report by Tyndall Centre

* Realistically 450 ppm CO2 is the best we can do
* This means 70% prob of 2 deg C +, 50% prob of 3 deg C +
* 60 or 80% reduction target by 2050 has little relevance to meeting 2 deg C – what counts is the total tons emitted in the period
* UK needs to emit max of 4.8 Gt between 2000 and 2050: already emitted 1.2 bn in 2000-2006.  Used ¼ of budget in 6 years
* Present Climate Change Bill – 6 Gt emissions, 7.5 Gt if aviation included
* Need 9% ghg reduction per year to keep below 450 ppm

Implications for Climate Change Bill

* Need a cumulative emissions target
* Must include international aviation and shipping
* Should include net imported embodied carbon
* Need rapid reductions in early years