Clause 80
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
5:45 pm
Martin Horwood (Shadow Minister (Environment), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Cheltenham, Liberal Democrat)
I must declare my connection to Business in the Community through the all-party group on corporate responsibility.
It is quite extraordinary that the Government are talking about prejudging common criteria. There is a plethora of common criteria out there, such as ISO 14001, Business in the Community and the environment index. There are many indices and bases. As the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal pointed out, a lot of work went into the operating and financial review, and it was ready to be implemented days before it was dropped on a whim by the Government. It is naive and disingenuous of the Government to suggest that there has not been sufficient time to prepare common criteria. That is clearly nonsense.