Posted by Greenbang on October 23rd, 2008
The government is facing a back-bench revolt over plans to leave aviation and shipping out of the UK’s targets for cutting CO2 emissions.
New climate change and energy minister Ed Miliband last week commmitted the UK to cutting CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. But aviation and shipping are not included in that target, with the government planning to offset those emissions because of what it claims is the difficulty in accounting for international emissions from those sectors.
Friends of the Earth criticised the move to let aviation and shipping emissions be dealt with voluntarily outside the Bill. Executive director Andy Atkins said:
“The Committee on Climate Change made it clear that we have to reduce all carbon emissions by 80 per cent. We cannot leave the cuts in aviation and shipping emissions to chance. The Government must listen to the concerns of the public and majority of MPs who want to see a law that covers all the UK’s emissions.”
With the House of Commons due to vote on the Climate Change Bill next week Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths has tabled an amendment that would include aviation and shipping.
That amendment now has the backing of more than 50 Labour MPs, which would be enough to defeat the government.
Posted by Petah Marian on October 23rd, 2008
The government is planning on taking a zero tolerance approach to waste in six towns across England.
Environment minister Jane Kennedy said the Zero Waste Places policy aims to go as far as possible in reducing the environmental impact of waste, whether it be at home in the workplace or in the community.
Kenendy said:
“Across England, we are seeing communities come together with innovative ideas and a shared determination to tackle waste locally. These six zero waste places will test what can be done to make it easier for people and businesses to change the way they view and deal with waste.”
The government will be implementing these plans in:
- The London Borough of Brent, which will develop 20 green zones across the borough by September 2009. The plan will involve establishing green teams of residents and developing a map of the borough showing green threads growing through the borough to show the progress of the initiative.
- Shenley Church End in Milton Keynes, where 1,500 homes, two schools and a number of high street businesses aim to cut waste and litter across the area.
- Kings Lynn in Norfolk will achieve zero waste as far as possible within the historic area of the Tuesday Market.
- The London Borough of Lewisham will run an eco street initiative where around 100 properties will be targeted through a range of measures including specialist advice and support to cut waste.
- Peterborough will run a zero waste city centre initiative, focusing on Cathedral square and the three streets leading from it. It will encompass more than 200 retailers and offices, including the town hall and council offices.
- The West Midlands will create a zero waste region focusing on businesses and organisations that produce a large quantity of waste, identifying region wide waste infrastructure, improving co-operation and cutting business waste across the region.
Posted by Petah Marian on October 21st, 2008
Wind energy industry leaders will this week warn Prime Minister Gordon Brown there is little chance of achieving the government’s goal of wind generating a third of all UK electricity by 2020.
A report in The Observer says:
“Planning delays, long delivery times, escalating costs, 10-year hold-ups in connection to the national grid and technical problems in building offshore wind farms all threaten to derail Brown’s ambitions. The result could be electricity shortages by 2020, failure to meet climate change and energy targets and possible hefty fines from Europe.”
The Observer also found that most existing wind turbine manufacturers are booked solid for the next five years, with demand forcing the price to double over the past five years. It also reported that it could cost up to £200,000 just to apply for planning permission, with two-thirds of applications being refused.
Most shocking is the finding that some companies in Scotland are being told to join a 13-year queue and pay deposits of millions of pounds to get connected to the National Grid.
You can read the full report here.
Posted by Petah Marian on October 17th, 2008
MPs and Lords have thrown their support behind an amendment to introduce a ‘feed in tariff’ to support smaller non-merchant renewable energy generation.
These tariffs pay people to generate green electricity and feed it back onto a the national grid, earning them a profit, helping them to pay for the set up costs of solar panels, turbines, groundwater heating systems and other sources.
A Friends of the Earth report said that 17 European countries have adopted a feed-in tariff system with considerable success. Driven by feed-in tariff legislation Germany generated 14.2 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2007.
One of the backers is BBC eco-warrior Dick Strawbridge (pictured), the man with quite possibly the finest moustache on the planet. He said:
“Most people do not feel able to control their future, however if they become energy producers they future-proof themselves. As such, the amendment is needed now because a change in our attitudes to renewable energy does not happen overnight. We need people to realise that it makes sense and spending a little now could save them a lot over the lifetime of the system.”
Posted by Petah Marian on October 17th, 2008
Energy and Climate Change secretary Ed Miliband has committed the UK to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels. The agreement is part of a global deal on climate change and is set to be in effect by 2050.
In a wide-ranging statement Miliband:
- Backed the recommendations of Lord Turner’s Climate Change Committee and said the government would make the target binding in law.
- Said he plans to bring an amendment to the energy bill, also currently before the house to introduce a ‘feed in tariff’ to support small-scale renewables and to make a further announcement soon on encouraging renewable heat.
- Made it clear that unless energy companies demonstrate action to end overcharging for many customers on pre-payment meters, he was prepared to consult on legislation to end unfair pricing.
The pledge follows a report last week by the government-appointed Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which warned that the UK must slash CO2 emissions by 80 per cent, not the previously agreed 60 per cent target, because of the rate of climate change.
But Miliband hasn’t listened to recommendations from environmental groups that this 80 per cent target should apply to all industry sectors, including aviation and shipping. Instead, those emissions will continue to be offset by cuts in other areas.
He said:
“If we carry on flying in the way that we are and expanding airports, we need to do less of other things.”
Posted by Petah Marian on October 16th, 2008
The US has joined the EU in setting a date to ban mercury exports, reducing the supply of commodity mercury into the world market.
Environmental groups in the US and around the world have applauded the legislation.
Linda Greer, director of the health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council said:
“Neither mercury nor the fish we eat recognises federal boundaries. Passage of this legislation banning the export of mercury is a great victory for the health of people in America and all over the world. It will curb the flow of mercury into global commerce, keeping it out of our tuna and other fish.”
The EU adopted a mercury export ban that takes effect in 2011, with the US legislation to come into effect by 2013. The US and EU are among the top exporters of commodity mercury - between 40 and 50 per cent of annual global trade passes through the EU and US.
However, most mercury supplies come from recycling of old mercury products such as thermostats as well as decommissioned mercury-cell chlor-alkali plants.
Michael Bender director of the Mercury Policy Project said:
“We’ve got to stop this circle of poison, where over 1000 tons of mercury are used annually by 15 million gold miners in 50 developing countries, exposing themselves, the global environment and the world’s fish supply to this dangerous neurotoxin. With export bans passed in the EU and now the US, momentum is building for a global mercury trade ban.”
Gold mining sites are extensively contaminated with mercury around the globe. Airborne mercury is a transcontinental pollutant that ends in waterways, contaminating fish the world over.
Posted by Greenbang on October 16th, 2008
The US presidential election won’t be won or lost on environmental and green issues, Greenbang can fairly safely predict. But both McCain and Obama have been touting their green credentials to varying degrees and last week we reported their stances on key issues such as CO2 emissions and carbon capture and storage.
As the campaign draws into the final rounds environmental body the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has published its own “Greenprint” policy roadmap for the next administration to address climate change, conservation of natural resources, food security and freshwater availability.
Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF, says:
“In our conservation work around the world, WWF has long recognized the connection between political stability, regional security and natural resource use. These issues are now taking centre stage in the form of climate change, energy independence, and national security.”
The WWF’s plan outlines specific policy initiatives that would reduce threats to global peace and security by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and establishing preparedness measures for dealing with the impacts of climate change, ensuring plentiful food and clean water for people around the world, and retooling the US government’s Cold War-era foreign assistance program to ensure more sustainable use of the world’s natural resources.
Here’s how the WWF Greenprint says the next US President can tackle the four key issues.
Climate change
It recommends that the next administration play a constructive role in international negotiations on a new climate treaty, curb deforestation which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions, propose domestic legislation to establish a cap and trade program for greenhouse gases and develop a preparedness strategy for confronting the impacts of climate change.
Food security
It recommends the development of performance-based standards for biofuels to ensure fuel supplies don’t diminish food supplies, and it urges an overhaul of management policies to restore the health of the world’s declining fisheries - a primary source of protein for more than one billion of the world’s poor.
Freshwater availability
Should be a strategic priority for the US and urges the next administration to lay the scientific and policy groundwork for global water security.
Sustainable management of natural resources
The WWF Greenprint states that America’s Cold War-era foreign assistance programs should be restructured to better integrate conservation and sustainability into the framework. It further urges renewed investment in natural assets and a stronger engagement with China, which is rapidly developing at a rate that is stressing the world’s natural resource capacity.
The WWF Greenprint is available here.
Posted by Petah Marian on October 15th, 2008
EU climate change policy will cost the British tax payer £150 each per year, a report claims.
The report by think tank Open Europe also warns EU climate change policy will push one million extra people into fuel poverty, increase energy bills by up to 13 per cent and add £130-£200 to the annual energy bill for a family of four.
As part of the Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package (CAREP), the EU is committing to sourcing 20 per cent of its energy from renewables and 10 per cent of transport fuel from biofuels. It would also set up a new centrally controlled version of the Emissions Trading Scheme, which would remove control from member states.
Open Europe has produced the first independent estimate of the cost and wider effects of CAREP and has calculated it will cost the UK £9bn each year. The report says the UK will face the second highest costs in the EU, surpassed only by Germany, which has a much higher population. The rate of increase for the UK will be the highest in Europe to meet EU renewable energy targets.
The 10 per cent target for biofuels use in transport has attracted the most controversy so far. An internal report by the commission’s own scientists said:
“EU-manufactured biofuels are currently not the most cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The report also highlighted the scepticism of politicians and industry about whether the EU will be able to meet these stringent new guidelines.
Allan Asher, CEO of Energywatch has said:
“In my view the UK 15 per cent, if that is confirmed, is absolutely unachievable in the timeframe. It will be seen as just the sort of thing that you say when you know that you are going to be out of office for 10 or 15 years before anybody comes to measure it.”
To meet the demands of the renewable target, the report said the UK’s energy infrastructure would need to be totally overhauled with 35-40 per cent of electricity coming from renewable sources. This would require more than three wind turbines to be built between now and 2020.
The Emissions Trading Scheme would also get an overhaul under CAREP, with member states losing control and the the setting of an EU wide target of a 21 per cent reduction relative to 2005. The Open Europe report says this will leave very little room for member states to shape their own policies or change them in the future.
Under CAREP initially 40 per cent of permits in the trading system will be handed out for free. The report said:
“This defeats the whole point of the trading scheme as it involves the Commission deciding which firms need to cut emissions rather than letting the market find out where cuts can be made cheaply. As it stands the money from auctioning permits would be spent on green policies, rather than recycled to firms in the form of tax cuts.”
The report says this would make EU firms much less competitive, which would create pressure for protection.
Furthermore, the ETS directive will make a proposal in June 2011 about “inclusion in the community scheme of importers of products”, which would mean that importers to the EU would pay the equivalent of the price of carbon faced by firms covered by the ETS.
Open Europe believes that the current EU plan is highly interventionist, prescriptive in detail and inflexible, arguing for more discretion for member states.
Posted by Petah Marian on October 13th, 2008
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has raised concerns about the integration of renewable energy into the EU grid system and a proposed ‘review’ clause in the Renewable Energy Directive, which it says could undermine market stability and investor certainty.
The EWEA raised the issues in an open letter to French energy minister Borloo.
A ‘review clause’ in the directive is currently being debated, which would cause a review in 2014 of whether the flexibility mechanisms were ensuring EU member states were meeting their targets. This could undermine stable national support systems, market stability and investor certainty as well as discouraging member states from ensuring adequate investments before the results of the review are known, the EWEA claims.
The association sees it as vital that renewables are integrated into the EU grid system quickly, and in quantities that will meet the EU target. Supporting the European Commission’s proposal on grids and is urging the council to maintain it. The current proposal would ensure that member states take necessary steps to develop grid infrastructure and that renewables are granted priority access and grid connection.
The EWEA said that wind energy contributes to all three objectives of the EU’s energy policy, and that it would 328 million tonnes would be avoided if the installed wind energy in 2020 met 20 per cent of EU electricity demand.
Posted by Greenbang on October 10th, 2008
The global economic meltdown has, amazingly, relegated even the US presidential election race to an “in other news today” item, but Greenbang has been following the TV debates with interest and is still, frankly, absolutely terrified by the prospect of Sarah Palin getting anywhere near the White House.
Now that both John McCain and Barack Obama have put more detail on their policy proposals we can take a loot at what their positions are on energy and global warming.
Associated Press has put together an easy-to-read comparison of the candidates’ policies here. But a couple of headline points to draw out.
McCain
Big fan of nuclear power and wants to build 45 nuclear reactors by 2030; supports carbon capture and storage; wants to introduce a cap-and-trade system to enforce mandatory CO2 emission reductions of 66 per cent (from 1990 levels) by 2050. More from McCain’s own website here.
Obama
Proposes $150bn fund for clean-tech such as biofuels, wind, solar, hybrids, clean-coal; wants to introduce cap-and-trade system to enforce mandatory CO2 emission reductions of 80 per cent (from 1990 levels) by 2050; windfall-profits tax on largest oil companies. More from Obama’s website here.
