27 March 2007, 15:27 PM
  • The latest plans from the Government for tackling emissions, could hit food and drink retailers hard.

The new proposals, which would make the UK the first country to have legally enforced standards, would highlight problems with for retailers relating to both manufacture and refrigeration.

In a written statement to the House of Commons, environment secretary, David Miliband, said the new climate change bill will have a five-year “carbon budget” to limit CO2 levels to create a “low carbon economy”.

Claiming that this would be “the first of its kind in any country” and that Britain was “leading by example”. Mr Miliband went on to say that “enabling” acts would allow the Government to intervene if it felt that not enough was being done.

“The debate on climate change has shifted from whether we need to act, to how much we need to do by when and the economic implications of doing so,” he wrote. “The time is therefore right for the introduction of a strong legal framework in the UK for tackling climate change.”