CO2 targets 'should be binding'

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Binding targets to reduce CO2 emissions should be included in regional planning rules, campaigners are to say in a "mock" climate change policy statement.

They will also call for local development plans to help communities deal with flood risks.

In March, a government report said Britain would be unlikely to meet its 2010 target to cut emissions by 20%.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, also supports using coercive measure to cut global warming.

Former environment secretary Margaret Beckett previously stressed that the government had not given up on its 20% goal but she conceded more needed to be done.

Call for changes in planning rules will be made in a statement to be delivered by Friends of the Earth and the Town and Country Planning Association.

Friends of the Earth campaigner on planning Hugh Ellis said: "As well as a new climate law called for in our Big Ask campaign, tough new rules are needed to reduce the impact that regional and local developments have on climate change."

The statement also calls for the active promotion of low and zero carbon development.