Government must also empower and persuade local government, firms and individuals to take their own measures in line with the national targets. Land-use planning must be adjusted so that we can remove dependency on cars for most aspects of normal life. Another vital component of the strategy is a national publicity campaign similar to but much stronger than the campaign against smoking over the last thirty years. We should aim for regular bulletins on all the media to match financial reporting. Carbon Accounting We need to move towards a framework where carbon accounting parallels financial accounting.
Many firms already produce annual environmental impact reports.
This should be made mandatory as the centrepiece of a range of environmental requirements within the framework of the Companies Acts, and should be immediately adopted by all central and local government bodies. We call for the UK to take a leading role in making the institutions developed at Rio actually work, and then to strengthen them. We must also try to persuade the other industrialised and industrialising nations to adopt emissions reduction schedules similar to those laid out above. Generous provision should also be made for green technology transfer, not forgetting that much of this will be from South to North.