I understand your concern re our own Government’s actions (in isolation from the whole) and the immediate impacts, but who is looking to the overall situation and the need to work in tandem across the globe?
Here’s an interesting slant on this, Woodbug, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_mitigation,
The Short time horizon of policies and politicians often means that climate change policies are not implemented in favour of socially favoured societal issues. Statements are often posed to keep the illusion of political action to prevent or postpone decisions being made. Missing motives and willingness to start adapting is a large barrier as it prevents any implementation.[194]
Martin Wolfe argued in the Financial Times in 2013 that, in order for effective climate change mitigation to take place, substantial resources needed to be invested in technologies that would deliver a prosperous low-carbon economy. Neither the technology nor the institutions required to deliver it existed in 2013, and hence there was no political will to make effective action.[196]
Which begs the question why did our Government decide to proceed unilaterally at that point in time? Did they do so because they had not sufficiently studied the effects of this strategy on the subsequent costs of homes, or did they proceed with this tack in the hope that the UK would gain a foothold with eco technologies relating to sustainable housing, whilst also appearing willing to make a start on addressing this problem?
Anyway for those interested, according to this wikipedia website, here’s some options to consider re mitigating climate change……
According to the International Energy Agency, improved energy efficiency in buildings, industrial processes and transportation could reduce the world's energy needs in 2050 by one third, and help control global emissions of greenhouse gases.[116]
Studies indicate that the exploitation of natural gas (as opposed to coal) as a "cleaner" fuel is questionable, as evidence has been emerging that this benefit could be completely negated by methane leakage at gas drilling fields and other earlier points in the production lifecycle.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a method to mitigate climate change by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as power plants and subsequently storing it away safely instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says CCS could contribute between 10% and 55% of the cumulative worldwide carbon-mitigation effort over the next 90 years. The International Energy Agency says CCS is "the most important single new technology for CO2 savings" in power generation and industry.
Reducing energy use is seen as a key solution to the problem of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, improved energy efficiency in buildings, industrial processes and transportation could reduce the world's energy needs in 2050 by one third, and help control global emissions of greenhouse gases.
In addition to designing buildings which are more energy-efficient to heat, it is possible to design buildings that are more energy-efficient to cool by using lighter-coloured, more reflective materials in the development of urban areas (e.g. by painting roofs white) and planting trees.[125][126] This saves energy because it cools buildings and reduces the urban heat island effect thus reducing the use of air conditioning.
A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period, such as a growing forest. A negative carbon dioxide emission on the other hand is a permanent removal of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, such as directly capturing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and storing it in geologic formations underground.
Pristine temperate forest has been shown to store three times more carbon than IPCC estimates took into account, and 60% more carbon than plantation forest.[133]
Restoring grasslands store CO2 from the air into plant material. It is estimated that increasing the carbon content of the soils in the world’s 3.5 billion hectares of agricultural grassland by 1% would offset nearly 12 years of CO2 emissions.[135
One other aspect to consider relates to rising sea levels.
Here’s the details of a film that focuses on the breathtaking rate at which glaciers are disappearing.
James Balog, an acclaimed photographer and once a sceptic about climate change, has discovered through his videos (that have compressed years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion), that the rate at which they are disappearing is far in excess of anything previously anticipated, and he has presented this evidence to the scientific fraternity.
The film is called “Chasing Ice”.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/13/chasing-ice-review