The Big Ask

The Big Ask was Friends of the Earth’s national campaign asking the Government to set an emissions reduction target in law. Against a background of continually rising emissions from 1997 to 2005, and in the absence of any legal commitment to cut emissions, Friends of the Earth asked for a 3% year-on-year emissions reduction target to be written into law.

The campaign was a great success. The Climate Change Act 2008 set a carbon reduction target of 80% by 2050, based on 1990 levels, and established the Committee on Climate Change to supervise efforts to achieve this target.