BRANSON REWARD NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CHANGING OUR BEHAVIOUR - HUHNE

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 9th Feb 2007

Commenting on Richard Branson's announcement that he is to offer a $25m reward for the development of a technique for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said:

"This is an imaginative prize which should encourage more thinking about how we can avoid going over the dangerous limit of 450 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere.

"However, it is not a substitute for hard planning and policy measures to move our way of life away from a reliance on burning fossil fuels.

"A number of quick fixes such as sun shields in space have been mooted, but the reality of tackling climate change is likely to be more prosaic and require greater focus on the causes rather than the symptoms of this pressing issue."