Pay homes to recycle, say Tories
By Wire News Sources on November 24, 2009
The Conservatives are to promise to cut Whitehall departments’ carbon emissions by 10% within a year of gaining power.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne will argue that this policy could save up to £300m a year in energy bills.
A Tory spokesman called this the "most ambitious commitment on UK government emissions ever made".
In a speech at Imperial College London, Mr Osborne will also promise to set up a "green investment bank" and to work with companies to tackle pollution.
The shadow chancellor will say that Tesco, BT and B&Q have agreed to provide advice on how to reduce emissions.
‘Transparency’
Ahead of his speech, Mr Osborne told the BBC: "I’m going to cut energy budgets… and say [to Whitehall departments] ‘Look, now you have to go and deliver the 10% cuts that we have promised.’"
He also accused Labour of being "too negative" in its attitude to the environment, relying on taxation rather than incentives to change people’s habits.
In his speech Mr Osborne will say that a green investment bank will "back the bright ideas of the future in an area where Britain is now lagging behind".
He will add that, as part of the party’s "transparency agenda", the Conservatives will publish online, in "real time", the energy consumption of all Whitehall departments.
A spokesman said this approach had been trialled by Windsor and Maidenhead Council and had led to an "immediate fall" in energy use of 15%.
Mr Osborne’s speech is one of a series on the environment by leading Conservatives, including shadow foreign secretary William Hague and shadow international development secretary Andrew Mitchell.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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