Graham Stuart
Main Page: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)
22. What his policy is on recognising national climate change legislation as a commitment under the United Nations framework convention on climate change.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
Domestic legislation is desirable and demonstrates political commitment at country level. However, the UK Government believe that an international treaty is still the best and most credible way of promoting ambitious mitigation action at a global level.
Mr Stuart
I thank the Minister for his answer and agree with the point he makes, but does he agree with me that it is important to encourage and recognise national legislative action and that the global legislators’ organisation, GLOBE, should continue to bring legislators together to catalogue and push for greater action at national level in lieu of international agreement?
Gregory Barker
Absolutely, and in the absence of a global treaty, the work that GLOBE does—and my hon. Friend does very valuable work as vice-president of GLOBE International and president of GLOBE UK—including its recent study of global climate change legislation, is extremely valuable, and we certainly support it and would encourage it to go further.