The Chancellor today set out the 2008 Budget which includes measures to tackle climate change, the most serious and pressing environmental challenge the world faces.

Following the Budget statement, Hilary Benn said:

"This Budget demonstrates how seriously the Government takes the environment, with clear incentives for action, for example the new vehicle excise duty bands and charges for plastic bags, and measures to reduce emissions, for example zero carbon new commercial buildings."

The green finance measures in the Budget include:

• laying the ground work for the introduction of five-year carbon budgets; reform of car vehicle excise duty rates and bandings;
• auctioning 100 per cent of allowances for large electricity producers in Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme;
• funding for the Green Homes Service to advise consumers on how to reduce carbon emissions, waste and water consumption;
• strengthening the environmental incentives for taxation of business cars, along with simplifying measures;
• incentivising only the most sustainable biofuels, by shifting support away from the duty differential to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation in future years;
• increasing climate change levy rates in line with inflation, in order to maintain the environmental incentive effect;
• an ambition for all new non-domestic buildings to be zero carbon from 2019 with consultation on the timeline and its feasibility and new public sector buildings from 2018;
• extending the Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption from zero carbon homes to new flats, retrospectively from 1 October 2007;
• and increasing the aggregates levy from 1 April 2009 to maintain its environmental impact.