As Gordon Brown announces a new drive to make electric cars commonplace, David Allaby reports from Public Service Events' Sustainable Development 09 conference on what is working and what isn't in the battle against climate change
The story goes that while Prime Minister, Tony Blair expressed his frustration when told that a certain government policy had not been delivered. "It's ridiculous," he protested, "I decided that three months ago." He had fallen into the trap of many political leaders who spend their time reaching a view and then moving to the next problem without waiting to see how or if the policy works.
The anecdote came from Jonathan Tillson, head of Defra's sustainable development unit, when considering what sustainable development action works. How do we get from high-level policy to practical progress on the ground? Speakers and delegates at Public Service Events' SD 09 conference – sponsored by EDF Energy – were invited to respond to that by chairwoman Lindsey Colbourne of the Sustainable Development Commission.
Tillson wanted to hear of successful actions that might be transferred to other fields. "There is a role for structures and policies," he admitted. "Government traditionally takes a top-down approach and I accept criticism of that at times. We need to be more responsive and take behaviour change more seriously."
Defra was trying to make changes in that direction – doing research into customer behaviour pat-terns, and it was praised by delegates for its work on this. He saw the benefits of symbolic change, of champions – Hadlow College spoke in its master- class about a passion for sustainable development – and for good old-fashioned persistence.
The conference, which was supported by Public Servant magazine, was certainly not lacking in passion. The shock of the credit crunch had prompted strong measures. The mood was for drastic action to combat climate change.
Some delegates called for leadership on a war footing that cut across party politics – a climate change cabinet of all talents. "We need big decisions from politicians," said a Peterborough delegate. There was a lack of common vision of what a sustainable low-carbon future looked like.
Speaking from the floor, Dr Mayer Hillman said we had to stop deceiving ourselves. The further contribution of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere could not be slowed by voluntary means. It required the intervention of governments internationally within a system of carbon rationing.
The head of Global Action Plan Trewin Restorick agreed, but asked: "How do you get politicians to agree to that? About 20 per cent might and 80 per cent would want to throw things at you." He called for stronger political action on climate change and criticised government for wasting its VAT cut when it might have invested in feeder energy tariffs. "The political leadership is not there," he said. "Members of the main non-government organisations also have to question what they are doing. We need pressure that bites. Policy moves like a sloth in snow boots through treacle."
Restorick said that at local authority level only about a third of councils were taking up carbon reduction commitments. Government tended to fall back on things it knows – it is happy to say we will buy so many energy efficient lightbulbs, but no matter how improved technology is it is "often wiped out by the way we use things. We are buying more and more stuff".
The sustainable development agenda had to be turned from the abstract to something tangible. Carbon simply did not mean enough to people. A tower of paper, for instance, can show how much waste has been created in a business day. A saints and sinners campaign is simple with gold balloons tied to computer monitors that are turned off at night and red for those left on.
He spoke of Eco Teams, groups of householders who create change – "a cross between Blue Peter, Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers". They can measure waste over a month. Blokes get obsessive with weighing their rubbish, he said.
In a masterclass, Brian Spires, director of sustainability at HLM architects, challenged government's declaration that all new school buildings in England would produce no carbon emissions from day-to-day use by 2016 and how the gap between ambition and performance might be bridged. Many schools were using two or three times the energy they were designed to use. Standards, such as those applied to natural light, were often smoke and mirrors.
Bill Stow, director general for strategy and evidence at Defra, spoke of the wider resources crunch and a population that must be fed without wrecking the environment. There was a great deal of analysis in government about coming out of the recession stronger and with the kind of economy we want. "It is plain to us that sustainable development is more important than ever," he said.
"Public sector performance was critical because it has to show leadership." Regulation and local government had a key role in creating the low-carbon economy, and in providing key services such as health and recreation. Councils had an important role in procuring better resource efficiency. Most local authorities wanted to tackle climate change in the community and not just in their operations, he said. The challenge was now to "embed it, sustain it in more difficult times and climb out of recession".
Drastic action needed to combat climate change
£30bn green 'New Deal' urged by Government watchdog
The Government should channel £30 billion a year into low-carbon measures to create a green “New Deal”, its sustainability watchdog has urged.
The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) said half of the UK’s stimulus package, which should total four per cent of GDP, should go on boosting renewable energy and green transport, redesigning the national grid and making homes more energy efficient.
Outlining its recommendations for a sustainable stimulus package in the Budget, the SDC also called for low-carbon investments in the public sector and funding to improve green skills.
The SDC said more than half of the £30 billion investment would generate financial returns within a few years, and would create at least 800,000 jobs.
The commission’s chairman Jonathon Porritt said: “Without commitment on this scale, there is every likelihood that the Government’s current low-carbon measures will be totally overwhelmed by business-as-usual stimulus measures.
“An investment strategy of the kind proposed would put us on track to achieving the extremely ambitious targets in the Climate Change Act, would create appropriate incentives for both the private and public sector and would demonstrate the kind of unequivocal leadership that UK citizens are now ready for.”
Tim Jackson, the SDC’s economics commissioner, said: “The government itself has made it clear that there is no high-carbon future, and that the transition to a low-carbon economy is an environmental and economic imperative.
“Only a commitment on this scale will ensure that the recovery will take the UK on to a globally-competitive, low- carbon pathway, rather than reverting to the unsustainable forms of growth which sowed the seeds of the current financial and climate crisis in the first place.”
A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change acknowledged there was an urgent need for action, as well as “real opportunities” in the low-carbon sector.
The spokesman said Government policies were driving £50 billion of investment in the sector between 2008 and 2011, including £5.8 billion in renewables, £10 billion in energy efficiency programmes, £7.6 billion in the grid and £23 billion on public transport and low- carbon vehicles.
He said: “We agree more needs to be done and we will be outlining further plans in these areas in the summer when we will announce how we intend to meet our carbon budget commitments.”
Meanwhile union leaders have also called on the government to inject a “bold” £25 billion fiscal stimulus into the economy focusing on jobs and green industries.
The TUC wants Alistair Darling to increase the UK’s current stimulus package to 3.25 per cent of GDP in his upcoming Budget, which it claims would create and safeguard one million jobs.
It is calling on Mr Darling to put the major public works programme at the heart of his recovery strategy, including spending £17 billion on green industries to target manufacturing, renewable energy, home insulation, housebuilding and modernising infrastructure.
The cost of inaction would be mass unemployment and an even greater strain on the nation’s finances for decades to come, the TUC warned.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber called on Mr Darling to place the same “relenting focus” on saving and creating jobs as on the government’s multibillion-pound bailout for the banks. There was still scope within the public finances for a “carefully targeted” additional stimulus, he claimed.
In their submission ahead of the Budget on April 22, unions want to see £6 billion spent on building 100,000 social homes and £5 billion to insulate 10 million homes. The two measures would create 50,000 jobs over two years.
The TUC also wants a £3 billion support package for struggling renewable projects and £1 billion for carbon capture programmes.
Medieval warming study is blow to climate change deniers
CLIMATE change deniers have been deprived of one of their favourite arguments against human-induced global warming.
During the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), Europe basked in balmy weather, and some claim that whatever natural mechanism caused it is warming the world today. To find out, Valerie Trouet at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research in Birmensdorf and colleagues studied the growth rate of trees in Morocco and a stalagmite in Scotland, both dating back 1000 years, to determine rainfall levels during the MCA.
They found a big difference in rainfall, and hence pressure systems, in each region at this time. This suggests that from 1050 to 1400 the North Atlantic experienced a strongly positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) - the regional climate system that drives winds from the Atlantic over Europe. The more positive the NAO, the more warm air is blown towards the continent.
To investigate why the warm winds were so persistent, lasting 350 years, the team combined their data with information from other regions of the world. It turns out that the El Niño system was in the negative La Niña mode, which, as the two systems are connected by ocean currents, could have reinforced the NAO (Science, vol 324, p 78). A persistently positive NAO is not operating today.
External forces like abrupt changes in solar output or volcanism could have started and stopped the cycle, says Trouet, who hopes to pinpoint the trigger at a climatology workshop in May.
