Population - the elephant in the room

It's pretty rare that I find myself agreeing with Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the hideous and misanthropic "Sustainable Development Commission", but I have to agree with his stance on a move to encourage people to have a maximum of two children. I hadn't realised that he is also involved in an organisation called the Optimum Population Trust, which seems to be much less objectionable than most environmental campaign groups.

Population is the elephant in the room when it comes to climate change. It's easy to criticise people who bring the topic up - usually it takes about 5 seconds before the word "Malthus" crops up. Also - as I found when I raised it as a question at a recent debate on climate change policy and lifestyle, the discussion inevitably gets side-tracked by references to developing economies. I was pretty shocked that the FoE participant said that the organisation didn't have a policy on this area, when after he'd cited Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms", I asked if the right-to-breed was a fifth.

My view is that China has long got it right on this issue. I'd go further and say that in all the discussion of "personal carbon allowances", there needs to be a quite specific category for "having children" alongside "driving", "flying" and "energy use in the home".

It's a choice. The CO2 footprint of a newborn child is huge. If you want one, go ahead. But don't expect me to give you a "carbon subsidy" to satisfy your whims.