In a week when Britain's media has been reported yet more dire warnings of climate catastrophe and looming energy shortages, the Green Party's spring conference is to consider a motion calling for a zero-carbon economy by 2030.
Proposers of the motion will argue that Britain needs a wake-up call, as scientists' warnings get louder and more urgent.
A strong lobby of delegates at the Blackpool conference will argue that a zero-carbon target is achievable by 2030, provided the country's economy is put on something like a war footing, starting very soon.
They will cite studies such as the Centre for Alternative Technology's Zero Carbon Britain report, which spells out in considerable detail one set of policies to achieve the ambitious target.
The motion will be heard on Saturday, following party leader Caroline Lucas's speech in which she will say Gordon Brown's so-called Green New Deal is hopelessly inadequate.
The zero-carbon motion, which is expected to achieve a strong degree of support, envisages both massive use of existing technology and the urgent need for further technological developments:
"There should ... be a target of a minimum of 10% emissions reductions year on year for the first ten years, by which time emissions would have declined by 65%.
"By then, safe and effective mechanisms for reducing greenhouse has gas concentrations should have been developed, and percentage targets should be replaced by numerical ones to complete the reduction to zero."
Green Party - UK
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