Brown Downgrades Cabinet-Level Committee On Climate, Scraps Sustainability Group - Independent

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Gordon Brown's commitment to tackling global warming has been called into doubt after Downing Street decided to downgrade the key cabinet committee on global warming. The Ministerial Committee on Energy and the Environment, which under Tony Blair was a top-grade cabinet committee chaired by the Prime Minister, has been reduced to a sub-committee, chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr Brown has also scrapped a ministerial committee devoted to promoting sustainability across government. The committee on Sustainable Development was designed to ensure that policy decisions, for example on housing, would not have an adverse impact on the environment in the future.

The cabinet committees see major policy decisions taken by ministers. They were set up so that the full cabinet does not have to consider every policy decision and to ensure that ministers from across government departments can sit together to discuss policy developments. Tony Blair's decision to chair the cabinet committee on the environment was seen, at the time, as a sign of his personal commitment to tackling climate change.

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A spokesman for Greenpeace said: "Gordon Brown has said on many occasions that Africa is one of the biggest priority for him. Well, climate change will decimate Africa, so if he is serious about Africa he needs to put global warming at the top of the agenda. We need to see a clear sign that tackling climate change is one of his top priorities and that global warming is not only an important environment, but will soon be the overwhelming development issue."

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2836180.ece