EEMS |
22nd September 2006 (Source: Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs )
The Office of Climate Change (OCC) will work across Government to provide a shared resource for analysis and development of climate change policy and strategy, Environment Secretary David Miliband said today.
Mr Miliband was speaking after Ministers met yesterday to agree the new body's scope, role, and an initial work plan.
The OCC will support Ministers as they decide future UK strategy and policy on domestic and international climate change by:
Mr Miliband said:
"Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the UK and the world, and we need to ensure that the action we are taking as a Government is co-ordinated and as effective as possible. The new Office of Climate Change will help us meet that challenge.
"The Office of Climate Change will be a key resource to help us achieve the challenging targets we have set to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050.
"The Office will co-ordinate climate change activity across Government based on sound, objective analysis and drive forward progress on climate change policy and strategy.
"As its first task, we have asked the Office of Climate Change to begin an audit of existing work to develop a clear picture of where we currently stand on climate change and what outstanding issues need to be addressed most urgently, taking as our starting point the Climate Change Programme Review we carried out earlier in the year."
Mr Miliband said that the Office would be staffed by a mix of people from other key Departments, reporting to a Ministerial Board.
"We are bringing together some of the top expertise and analysis from across Government to drive this process, not just within Defra but throughout Whitehall and beyond," he said.
The OCC will be governed by a Ministerial Board chaired by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and including the Foreign Secretary, Secretaries of State from DCLG, DTI, DfID and DfT, the Financial Secretary, and relevant Ministers of State.
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