Climate Change Committee says UK no longer a world leader.

Government backing for new oil and coal, airport expansion plans and slow progress on heat pumps show that the UK has lost its leadership on climate issues, a government watchdog warns.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) described government efforts to scale up climate action as "worryingly slow".

It was "markedly" less confident than a year ago that the UK would reach its targets for cutting carbon emissions.

The government said it was committed to its climate targets.

Committee chairman Lord Deben, a former Conservative environment minister, was particularly critical of the government's policy on new coal and oil projects.

The decision to approve the UK's first new deep coal mine in 30 years in Cumbria last December was "total nonsense", he told the BBC.

Lord Deben was also damning about plans for a major new oilfield off the coast of Scotland. Approval for Rosebank, which could produce an estimated 300 million barrels of oil in its lifetime, is expected soon.

Source: www.bbc.com

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