The British government today announced some guidelines and recommendations it believes will help the UK government as it embarks on new regulatory regimes to address issues of climate change. The government was moved to do this in response to a report submitted to it by the Better Regulation Commission (BRC), a government commission.
Among other things, the BRC came up with seven “tests” it believes ought to be applied by policy makers when considering climate change regulation:
1. Ensure climate policy is consistent with a healthy UK economy
2. Government must develop and act consistently with a climate change strategy; avoiding piecemeal announcements
3. Test policy against a carbon price benchmark
4. Carbon policy choices must be efficient; don't do things twice
5. Keep administrative costs to a minimum
6. Do not use climate change as a justification for other policy
goals
7. If it isn't working, change it
The UK government agreed with these rules and added this comment:
The Government agrees with all of these tests and the response is positive on how, if it is not already happening, the government will take each test forward. However the government is only able to agree
in principle to test four ('Carbon Policy choices must be efficient; don't do things twice') because it may sometimes be necessary for several instruments to operate within one particular sector. However, they need to be proportionate, and inter-linkages should not over-burden any one sector. For example, there may be benefits in having energy efficiency policies in order to encourage a prompt response to carbon price signals, and so as to secure climate change and security of supply objectives together.