More progress in combating Climate Change
On 9 December, I attended a mass rally in Grosvenor Square to call attention to the threat that climate change presents to us today. It was great to see 5,000 people there, marching to highlight the biggest single threat facing the planet at the time of world conference now taking place at Bali, demanding much tougher action both here in the UK and abroad.
We are making progress. Now that Australia has removed John Howard from office and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, we must hope that the US does the same. The US, with only 5% of the world population, is causing 25% of global warming damage. As the Bush presidency comes to an end, the US should only elect a president who is fully committed to international action to stop climate change, and to take the lead in making necessary and drastic cuts in carbon emissions.
Even Bush’s climate change guru, James Hansen, has admitted that we have at most 10 years to make the drastic cuts necessary to head off the worst effects of climate change.
Yet global emissions have actually risen since Kyoto, and that is why we must cut 50% of current carbon emissions by 2030, and move to cut 80% (or even 90%) cuts by 2050.
Emissions are still rising fast across the world because only 30 countries have committed themselves to making carbon emission cuts in the Kyoto Protocol, not the other 150 which include China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico. But they’ve made clear they are only prepared to cut their emissions if we rich countries take the lead, because we caused the problem and should fix it first – and they’re right.
Our second demand to the UK, EU, and the rest is – show some real leadership.
Rhetoric is not enough – we need a lot more action.
So today, we need to demand the following from the British government:
1. Our carbon emissions in the UK have actually risen since 1997, not fallen. There is no sense in setting ever tougher targets for 50 years if we haven’t made any significant cuts to our carbon emissions in the last 10 years. If we expect developing countries to cut their emissions, we’ve got to cut ours first – and massively.
2. Our record on renewable energy is pathetic. The rest of the EU regenerates 15-25% of its electricity from renewable energy, Scandinavia 35-50%. The UK, as an offshore island, has more windpower capacity than the rest of Europe put together. We need to learn how to take full advantage of these of offshore winds, and significantly lessen our dependence on other forms of carbon-based energies.
3. We need a Climate Change Bill (which incidentally heeds annual targets, not a leisurely five-year review) that is not much use if at the same time the Government approves a third runway at Heathrow, commits to triple airport capacity by 2030, begins a huge road construction programme, or annexes 1 million square acres of seabed off Antarctica in order to pre-empt the world’s last repositories of oil.
4. And another thing – if Gordon Brown is as much in favour of renewable energy as he claimed on 19 November, why is he undermining renewable energies by promoting nuclear energy, which is more costly, more dangerous, and leaves behind vast piles of unsafe, toxic materials which lasts for hundreds of thousands of years?
And if we are to make real progress in combating climate change:
• Air travel and shipping emissions must be included in both UK and international carbon targets
• The top 5,000 companies must report every year on how they are bringing down carbon emissions with penalties for those who fall short
• Household carbon allowances must be established so that every family in the country reduces their carbon emissions year by year
• The creation of an international programme to support developing countries to halt deforestation completely