Published: 28 September 2006
Office of Climate Change starts work
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 has said.
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:
· High level management & reporting of progress on existing commitments
· Consolidating existing analysis to develop a cross-government consensus on current progress and outstanding issues
· Identifying short & medium term goals for particular sectors/ areas and consequent priorities for action
· Carrying out time-limited policy-focussed projects where Ministers agree that this adds value
· Promoting understanding of climate change across government and supporting departments to adapt their policies
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.”
The Ministerial Board, which is a working subgroup of the Ministerial Committee on Energy and the Environment. An Officials' Board will oversee the day-to-day running of the body.
It will be staffed by around 15-18 permanent staff supported by 12-18 staff temporarily recruited for project work.
The Office of Climate Change will address international issues but will not be involved in international negotiations or in drawing up negotiation strategies.
Further information:
Office of Climate Change – This is primarily an internal organisation so there are no public contact details available as yet.
Defra Climate Change website
Environment Agency Climate Change website
UK Climate Impact Programme
European Environment Agency - Climate Change
Climate Change Student Information Guide
Related articles:
Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change
Future of Forests
Climate Witnesses
Record number of Cyclones
What are You Doing About Climate Change?
Temperature Trends
Economics of Climate Change
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