Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot has come under fire for refusing to commit to setting carbon budgets for government departments.

In Tynwald last week Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin) wanted to know whether there was a plan to set carbon budgets for departments, to offer accountability and help set targets.

But Mr Boot said there was no plan to do so in the short-term. He said: ’Under the current commitment in the Climate Change Action Plan, there are 11 actions on government departments to reduce emissions.

’I think we should start there and look at what I would call the things that we can do in the very short-term, but in the longer term look at how that works and whether or not carbon budgets would be a useful tool going forward.’

The minister said the Climate Change Bill, currently before the House of Keys, would introduce statutory obligations for all government departments to address climate change.

’However at this stage the bill does not prescribe specific actions,’ said Mr Boot.

’Therefore a wide range of actions may be appropriate and these may vary between departments, specific circumstances and they should also take account of the constraints we face in a comparatively small jurisdiction.’

But Mr Hooper was unimpressed.

He asked: ’Given that carbon budgets are an accepted international measure and a standard way of doing things that have been enshrined in statute in the United Kingdom, why is our Climate Bill taking a different approach and why do we not have a similar measure in the Climate Action Plan in respect of government departments?’

Mr Hooper said the purpose of a carbon budget was to set and monitor targets and hold departments accountable, rather than define particular actions.

’Carbon budgets is a process that has been adopted in many other jurisdictions as an effective monitoring and accountability tool,’ he said.

’Sometimes it makes sense to do what they do elsewhere on the basis that actually it works.’

The minister countered: ’Just because someone does something in another jurisdiction does not absolutely make it right.’

Mr Boot said the department was working on tailoring rules to the island’s requirements

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture’s energy policy team will consider the ’scop and capacity’ for individual department carbon budgets and emission reduction targets.

But the minister added: ’No decision has currently been made.’

He argued there were other actions that ’could make a bigger initial difference, simply by starting to address the obvious opportunities that most departments face’.

’It may be that both individual department carbon budgets and emissions may be appropriate at a later stage,’ he added.

The Climate Change Bill recently passed its first hurdle in the House of Keys, when it was granted a second reading.

It will enshrine in law the zero carbon emissions target date of 2050 and the requirement for the Council of Ministers to set an interim target by 2022.

But some MHKs were critical of the deadlines set in the bill and the vague wording. Bill Shimmins (Middle) said targets were ’etched in jelly’.