UK flooding: taste of things to come?

The UK was hit by some of the worst flooding ever recorded in Cumbria and Wales last week, devastating homes and claiming lives.

As concern grows for flood-hit communities in Cumbria and an urgent inspection of the county’s bridges gets underway as more rain is forecast, environment secretary Hilary Benn gave an emergency statement to the Commons. The government has already pledged a £1m fund to local authorities in flood hit areas.

Benn began his statement by paying tribute to PC Barker. He also announced the death of another man – Michael Streeter a contractor for the Environment Agency who died while repairing flood defences in West Sussex.

But the environment minster chose to end his statement with a warning about global warming:

“Although we cannot attribute this particular event to climate change, we can expect to see more extreme weather in the years ahead. This is a future we must prepare for,” he said.

For up to the minute flooding news visit the Guardian’s live blog.

Copenhagen climate talks hopes fade as Obama backs postponement

Barack Obama acknowledged today that time has run out to secure a binding climate deal at Copenhagen and began moving towards a two-stage process that would delay a legal pact until next year at the earliest, the Guardian has reported today.

During a hastily convened breakfast meeting in Singapore, the US president supported a Danish plan to salvage something from the moribund negotiations by aiming for a broad political agreement and postponing contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer.

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UK Climate Targets ‘unachievable’

UK government plans to make carbon emission cuts of 80% by 2050 are physically impossible to achieve, according to a new analysis by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the BBC reported today.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers says there is not enough time or capacity to build the wind turbines and extra nuclear power stations required and that under current plans, the targets will not be met until 2100.

The UK’s Climate Change Act passed into law in 2008, putting a legal imperative on the government to cut emissions by 80% of their 1990 levels by 2050, with a mid-term target of 34% cuts by 2020.

But the report investigates how practical these targets are to reach and concludes that they cannot be met with the current approaches to cutting carbon.

IMeche called for a major investment in geo-engineering and what it is calling a “war” on climate change with a beefed up government department in charge.

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Read SUE research findings that challenge UK climate targets

Hard-hitting ad campaigns in the wake of Climate Change Act: