David Wallace, Vice President of the Royal Society (the world's oldest academy of science), today urges the UK Government to face the challenge of achieving an adequate supply of affordable energy while cutting emissions of carbon dioxide.

He warns that the UK government's current climate change policies are not working well enough.

The Society has also recommended that the Government should...introduce a carbon tax which would put a cost on all emissions of carbon dioxide from all sectors including industrial, domestic and transport. This would encourage the development of cleaner technologies and a move away from carbon based fuels in the overall energy supply as well as promoting energy efficiency measures. A report by the Royal Society has shown that the impact of a carbon tax on the long-term global GDP would be negligible.

Full story here.

(New Zealand carbon tax discussed here and here)

CH