Beckett: Targets could undermine agreement

The environment secretary has sparked confusion over her approach to green-house gas emissions after signalling that the push for compulsory targets could be dropped.

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, Margaret Beckett, who will represent Britain and the EU at climate change talks in Montreal this week, appeared to go cold on compulsory targets.

Beckett said that using compulsory targets as the central demand in the negotiations would be "utterly destructive to any kind of agreement".

"People would never engage in dialogue if they thought the outcome was preconceived and... could hamper their development," the minister told the Observer.

"Targets will always have a very important role to play and will be part of a framework, but not everybody has to be in exactly the same position."

Outraged

Whilst she accepted that there were some groups who would be "outraged" at a voluntary approach, she added that she was "reluctant to go any further into it".

Beckett's comments prompted the intervention of the government's chief scientific adviser - who denied that the UK had dropped its support for compulsory targets.

Sir David King said the government believed that the compulsory targets detailed at Kyoto should remain in place for those nations who agreed to the protocol.

But he said that it could be "a bit optimistic" to expect nations opposed to Kyoto to sign up to new targets.

"India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, what we are saying to those countries is come and join the discussions and we are not telling you in advance that you are facing targets," he added.