Brown to put green issues at heart of economic policy
By Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent

Gordon Brown cloaked himself in green yesterday, pledging to put environmental issues at the heart of economic policy and promising support in today's Budget for technologies to tackle climate change.
The chancellor said: "Environmental issues - including climate change - have traditionally been placed in a category separate from the economy and from economic policy. But this is no longer tenable."
In an attempt to help Britain take world leadership on the environment, he called on finance and industry ministers around the world to put environmental concerns at the centre of economic policy. Their chief way of achieving this was through energy policy, which ought to encourage energy efficiency and the uptake of renewable energy, he told a meeting in London of finance, energy and environment ministers from 20 countries yesterday.
He backed his call by promising action on climate change through investment in research and development on methods of capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground and the creation of a "high-level energy research platform". His previous measures, such as the climate change levy on businesses, had produced greater results than projections had suggested.
Invoking the spirit of John Maynard Keynes, the economist, Mr Brown laid out a new economic and political philosophy. The twin foundations of economic policy had been high and stable levels of growth, and full employment. To these, he added a "third objective on which our economies must be built, and that is environmental care". "Across a range of environmental issues, from soil erosion to the depletion of marine stocks, from water scarcity to air pollution, it is clear now not just that economic activity is their cause but that these problems in themselves threaten future economic activity and growth." Yesterday was the first time Mr Brown had spoken publicly on environmental issues as chancellor. He tied his new-found enthusiasm to an older refrain, saying: "Well-designed [environmen-tall policies can actually stimulate innovation and improve productivity, particularly in the field of energy efficiency."
The chancellor returned to another favourite theme: poverty reduction and social justice. Climate change weighed most heavily on poor countries, giving richer nations an obligation to assist them in tackling it.
"It is a problem caused by the industrialised countries, whose effects will disproportionately fall on developing countries," he said.
Steve Howard, chief executive of the Climate Group, an environmental charity, said: "This is a very strong message from Gordon Brown. It has taken climate change firmly out of the environment box and put It in the mainstream.”
But Tim Yeo, shadow environment secretary, said: “Given this government’s record of all talk and no action on the environment, we can hardly believe a word this chancellor says. The chancellor praised Britain’s record on carbon emissions reductions but the reality is emission have gone up since 1997.”