In 2008 the UK Climate Change Act became law and history was made. The Act was – and still is – a world leading legislative commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep the world within ‘safe’ limits of climate change. The RSPB was one of the many charities that got behind the Act because of the huge threat climate change poses to species at home and across the globe. It was passed with cross party consensus, with only a handful of MPs voting against it.
Four years on and, in many ways, the Climate Change Act is already having a positive effect on our lives. UK emissions are down, and the ‘green’ economy is thriving- employing around a million people across the country, and, according to the CBI, responsible for a third of growth across the economy.
Whilst we have been making good progress in reducing emissions, the evidence of climate change has become ever more real. This year, for example, the Arctic sea ice melted to record low levels, April to June was the wettest on record in the UK (and the weather still seems to want to break more rainfall records), and in the US June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records. At the same time, the costs of climate change to people and wildlife have become ever more apparent. This is the backdrop to the latest UN global climate change talks which start in Qatar today.
In spite of all this, I found last week’s announcement from Government on the content of the Energy Bill to be disappointing and disturbing in equal measure. This Bill was touted as once in a generation shake up of the energy sector that would ensure we deliver our climate goals whilst keeping electricity affordable. There was indeed some good news in there, such as the allocation of adequate funding for renewable energy subsidies for the next five years, but many of the critical measures we needed for this Bill to be genuinely green were absent. Worse, the announcement put the spotlight on some very raw divisions within the Coalition on climate policy that, if continued, threaten the cross-party consensus on climate change.
We need to keep on reminding our politicians that there is no plan B. Reducing our emissions and limiting climate change to within safe levels is critical if we’re to save nature and pass this world on to the next generation in a decent condition. And, as Sir Nicholas Stern argued - it makes economic sense to act now rather than paying to deal with the consequences of climate change.
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There ought to be a much longer term view taken of this important issue (as well as some others such as water supply) with cross party agreement and momentum. Surely all of the main parties can see that this is an issue of paramount importance that needs proper funding and someone held in high esteem by all the political parties to steer it on a long term basis with minimal political meddling!
There must be a better way
Tony