Can Australia go it alone? Pressure from the UK

The prime minister has said he wants the new coalition administration to be "the greenest government ever". David Cameron was speaking to civil servants at the Department of Energy and Climate Change on his tour around Whitehall to introduce the new government.

Flanked by Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne who will run the department, Cameron reassured civil servants that the environment was a top priority for him. "There is a fourth minister in this department who cares passionately about this agenda and that is me, the prime minister, right. I mean that from the bottom of my heart." In his introduction, Huhne said, "Climate change is in my view, our view, the greatest challenge facing mankind," adding that he wanted to go "further and faster than ever before".

Cameron used the four-minute speech to formally announce the coalition's pledge to cut carbon emissions by 10% in the first 12 months.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/14/cameron-wants-greenest-government-ever
The Guardian, 14 May, 2010