A fascinating appearance by the ever-polished Lord Turner at a select committee this morning. He was discussing climate change targets in his capacity as Gordon Brown’s environment tsar.

But with Turner wanting to spend more time in his day job - as chair of the FSA - the race is on to replace him as chairman of Brown’s climate change committee.

I’m told that Rachel Lomax is the front-runner. The former deputy governor of the Bank of England (pictured above with Alan Greenspan) is seen as a safe pair of hands who won’t rock the boat too much. Lomax used to be permanent secretary at the Department for Transport and is currently a non-exec of HSBC.

The other candidates include Sir Adrian Montague, former deputy chair of Network Rail, who - as chairman of British Energy - is popular with the pro-nuclear lobby.

There is also Tim Yeo, chairman of the environmental audit committee, Sir John Harman, former chairman of the Environment Agency, and John Gummer, the Tory MP most closely associated with David Cameron’s Quality of Life “green” report.

Turner is not going just yet, however. I’m told it could be months before he moves on - although others believe this hiatus is due to indecision over his successor.

February 4, 2009 4:43pm in Energy, UK politics | Comment