Monday, 30th October was a truly extraordinary day.
The British Gov't published the Stern Report on climate change.
The British Gov't announced the intention to pass a climate change act.
The British Govt's HM Treasury invited local gov't to their head office to talk about the steps we can take together. (I attended this event.)
There is loads to take in. The Stern Report alone is 700 pages but there are Executive summaries available. Here’s a personal view from a friend in the United States -
The Stern Review's principal conclusion is that tackling climate change is a pro-growth strategy. The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be.
In July 2005 Chancellor Gordon Brown asked Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service and former World Bank Chief Economist, to lead this major independent review.
The Review is considered the most definitive economic analysis to-date of the costs of inaction on climate change versus the costs of action
The overall costs of climate change if emissions are not curbed are equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year now and forever; worst case scenarios increase the loss to 20% ($7 trillion).
The costs of taking action to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions can be limited to around 1% of global GDP per annum; In other words, $1 invested now can save $5 later.
On current trends, average global temperatures will rise by 2° C to 3° C within 50 years.
The global power sector will have to be at least 60% decarbonised by 2050 to stabilise greenhouse gases.
Action is required to address deforestation, which is estimated to represent more than 18% of global emissions, more than the global transport sector.
Markets for low-carbon energy products are likely to be worth at least $500 billion per year by 2050.
Worldwide incentives to encourage the use of new low-carbon technologies should be raised by two to five times from the current level of some $34 billion a year.
The three elements of policy required for an effective global response are:
A carbon price, implemented through tax, trading, or regulation
Support for innovation and the deployment of low carbon technologies
Action to remove barriers to energy efficiency, and to increase public awarenessand engagement
For easy access to the Stern report, click here.
I'm pleased to see the priority Gov’t is giving to mitigating climate change, from Kyoto, to Tony Blair’s key note speech in September 2004, to the profile given at the G8 summit in 2005 and to the recent work by David Miliband and Margaret Beckett to raise the matter at home and abroad.
Gordon Brown’s resolve to both have climate change considered as one of the key five themes for the next Comprehensive Spending Review and to commission the Stern Review published today is welcome.
Nottingham City Council has significant achievements on climate change - which builds on our key aim - to reduce the carbon footprint by encouraging people to live and learn in the city as well as work here. Our achievements include -
we adopted a Green Charter as early as 1990;
we have a strong track record on transport planning and providing better public transport services - with the best bus companies in the country, including the only publicly-owned bus company to win “Operator of the Year”;
we are very proud of the tram, and are pleased to receive last week’s promise of £437m of Gov’t support for Phase 2;
significant energy saving measures in public and private housing;
water efficiency measures, particularly in schools;
the Eastcroft incinerator and the London Road power station has provided combined heat and power from waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill;
we are the 8th largest purchaser of green electricity in the country;
we are catching up with others on collection of separated waste for recycling and our rates are now the highest of the English Core Cities outside of London;
and we significantly convened the most concerned local authorities to sign up to the Nottingham Declaration - now signed by 183 authorities and re-launched last year as a national partnership which hopes to have 200 authorities signed up by the winter.
Nottingham City Council has a national and international reputation on tackling climate change. But we have renewed our commitment, prompted by an extensive scrutiny review and a tour of other authorities conducting best practice; recent actions include -
· adopting a renewed strategy;
· mainstreaming ideas and proposals within the Council’s policy framework;
· holding a conference to review the papers the council was set to adopt at a dedicatedday for climate change, which saw a honed commitment to exceeding the Mertonstandard;
· dropping an advert for the Al Gore movie to every home in the City of Nottingham,and hosting an event at the first showing in the city;
· supporting the work of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office with local government in the USA and continuing our links, including holding a video conference at full Council with the Mayor of Gainesville, Florida;
· working with our business networks to hold a business breakfast on SMEs staying legalas a supplier, adopting environmental practices to remain a supplier to the larger firmsthat are greening up and to help reduce costs;
· working with local partnerships and the universities, for a potential drive on newenviro-technologies, including 3rd generation wind turbines;
· starting an internet pledge campaign, with a new symbol - the polar bear;
· learning from others, including a visit to an anaerobic digester in South Shropshire;
· working with the new sub-committee of the Core Cities, whose leaders recently decided to give climate change some priority in their list of key policies.
Regarding the current debate over a Climate Change bill, I share some of the Govt’s concerns about a focus on annual targets. Gov’t has frequently restated the scale of the challenge we face and has ambitious targets. Gov’t should be bringing its planned energy ratings scheme for homes and sustainable codes of practice for homes through and the media is speculating that Gov’t Ministers are considering new green taxation. If a further statement through legislation is required, I wonder whether Gov’t might be able to accept averaged annual targets for greenhouse gas emissions.
New legislation might offer opportunities to tackle other concerns -
· reframing congestion charging to allow environmental concerns to be considered as part of the case for new charging;
· to require all significant buildings to be built with public money to be built with sustainable materials and to generate more of its own energy and use ‘grey’ water; and to show the budget for this within funding decisions;
· codes on packaging that allow waste material to be more easily recycled; (and possibly requiring plastic food packaging to be bio-digestable plastic so as to improve the effectiveness of anaerobic digestion);
· any legal framework that might be required to define an energy services company; and to speed up the connection of Scottish wind turbines (for instance) to the grid;
· possibly further local powers over the private rented housing sector to drive energy efficiencies and to tackle fuel poverty;
On transportation, there is some frustration that there is no link between road pricing and environment. It’s only allowed to be considered as a congestion policy. Can the existing congestion charging laws & regulations be varied to allow considerations of allowing constraint to reduce carbon footprint? David Miliband will call on energy companies to sell comfort rather than energy. Can a similar lesson be drawn for transport - to sell accessibility, rather individual journey by car?
I agree with Gov’t that tackling climate change is more than ambition and performance management. The Gov’t investment in changing the cultural attitude to climate change has been significant. Government can play a very significant role in providing the policy framework, capabilityand capacity, especially in partnership with business - to drive major projects of change (which left solely to the market are not making enough progress) - such as -
· the introduction of mass produced electric cars;
· a new system of subsided pre-payment for local transport smart cards;
· the introduction of carbon trading schemes, which may help to limit ‘food miles’, including in school dinners and meals on wheels;
· the use of ground source heat pumping (to provide low energy heating and cooling);
· developing financing solutions for new buildings to be developed to sustainable standards and to generate its own energy and collect ‘grey’ water for use in irrigation and waste systems;
· changes in the market for use of materials collected for recycling in construction and other sectors;
Experience of GM’s development of the EV1 electric car and legislation in the State of California shows how things can go wrong if such major projects are not undertaken in partnership.
Parliament has also held debates on this issue and one of the most interesting and possibly challenging ideas is reduce the national maximum speed limits to reduce energy consumption.
The day’s events including the release of the Stern Report promise to be a milestone in the development of Britain’s response to climate change.
[DRAFT - posted 2006-11-06; still to be revised with some of the findings from the Treasury - local government conference]
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