Joan Ruddock - Minister of State
Joan Ruddock
Responsibilities
Joan Ruddock's work focuses largely on how we can change behaviour across UK society and reach an ambitious global agreement to reduce our carbon emissions in a fair and effective way.
She works specifically on:
- domestic energy savings strategy and delivery, including:
- EU emissions trading and global carbon markets
- carbon budgets
- the Carbon Reduction Commitment, Climate Change Levy and Climate Change Agreements
- greening DECC
- sponsorship of the Energy Saving Trust
- links between mitigation and adaptation policy, and links to the sustainable production agenda (working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)
- supporting the Secretary of State on international negotiations on climate change and in promoting national debate in the run up to the Copenhagen event later this year.
Biography
As a backbench MP, Joan Ruddock was a prominent environmental campaigner for many years. Soon after arriving in Parliament, as the MP for Lewisham Deptford, she proposed a private members bill on flytipping that became the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989.
In 2002, she introduced another private members bill designed to increase doorstop recycling, which became the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003.
A graduate of Imperial College, Joan Ruddock was also Vice-Chair of Globe International and a Vice-Chair of PRASEG (Associate Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group).
She became Minister of Climate Change, Waste and Biodiversity in June 2007, before joining DECC in 2008.