In 2000 and influenced by Sir John Houghton (the Chair of the IPCC Science Working Group),
the UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) adopted Contraction & Convergence
(C&C) in its Climate Energy Report (2000).

In July 2000, the RCEP Chairman Sir Tom Blundell wrote a letter to GCI stating how
much the RCEP valued GCI's pioneering work over the years making the case for C&C,
and how this had enabled them to develop their own arguments more effectively.



It was to become a widely quoted & path-steering reference, as this report made Contraction & Convergence (C&C)
the key policy-recommendation to the UK Government.

"The UK should continue to play a forceful leading role in international negotiations to combat climate change,
both in its own right and through the European Union. The government should press for further reductions in
the greenhouse gas emissions of developed nations after 2012 & controls on the emissions of developing nations.

The government should press for a future global climate agreement based on the contraction and convergence
approach, combined with international trading in emission permits. Together, these offer the best long-term
prospect of securing equity, economy and international consensus."

Even beyond the prediction of Sir John Houghton in 2003, this defined the debate leading to the C&C-based UK Climate Act in 2008.



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