Environmental groups have been celebrating a string of Government announcements that will strengthen the Climate Change Bills currently going through the Holyrood and Westminster Parliaments.

Environmental groups have been celebrating a string of Government announcements that will strengthen the Climate Change Bills currently going through the Holyrood and Westminster Parliaments.

In his September reshuffle, Gordon Brown won praise for creating a new Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Previously, the issues were split between the environment and business departments and it is hoped the merger may lead to a more focused approach. Then two weeks ago Ed Miliband, the new Cabinet Minister responsible for the DECC raised the overall 2050 target for emissions reduction from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.

The following day, the SNP Government in Scotland announced that its Climate Bill, which already has an 80 per cent target, will now include not just carbon but all six greenhouse gases, and also Scotland’s share of emissions from international aviation and shipping. Finally this week, Ed Miliband bowed to pressure and has also included aviation and shipping in the UK Bill. Campaigners were delighted with the moves, which at times were said to look as if the Scottish and UK Governments were competing for the claim to have the most ambitious law.

Ruth Dawkins, a former EUSA President and now Scottish coordinator of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition described it as an ‘enormous success’.

Commenting on apparent Government rivalry, she said: "We will have to wait and see the full detail of the Bill, but what the Scottish Government are now promising amounts to the best climate change legislation in the world".

Nigel Griffiths, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, was at the forefront of negotiations between environmentalists and the Government. Motions and amendments in his name attracted the support of hundreds of MPs, putting pressure on the Government to accept the core demands of a number of campaigning groups, including those based at Edinburgh University.

One environmental campaigner said that Mr Griffiths would now be under pressure to make his views clearer on issues such as Heathrow airport expansion and the building of new coal-fuelled power stations: ‘This is now a much-improved framework which needs to shift the whole focus of Government towards reducing emissions. However, it will be meaningless if they continue to make carbon hungry decisions on roads, airports and power stations that will put us on entirely the wrong track going forward’.

The Climate Bill in Westminster will become law shortly but its equivalent in Scotland must first be scrutinised by the Holyrood Parliament.