Four substantive initiatives to cut carbon emissions

21st November 2006

Dr Whitehead yesterday set out in Parliament a number of key policies that he argues must be part of the government's green agenda if carbon emissions are to be further reduced by the amount needed before we pass the point of no return set out in the Stern Review. The key initiatives he highlighted were:

On regulating the Emissions Trading Scheme, Dr Whitehead said:

"As far as capping and trading are concerned, the UK can do certain things—an example would be landfill capping and trading—but aviation and most other major causes of carbon dioxide emissions are certainly examples of where the trading needs to take place on a wider basis than just within this country. Phase two of the EU emissions trading scheme will be crucial for getting those mechanisms right, as will be phase three. There are also signs that some states in the USA wish to sign up to these carbon trading mechanisms. I would hope that such mechanisms can be established world wide, but they must certainly be established on a Europe-wide level. Perhaps the European Commission could set the allocations for each country during phase three of the ETS, rather than our having the self-certification of allocations that occurred during phase one."

On changing the way energy companies sell energy, he said:

"The clauses that will provide enabling powers for those further mechanisms will form an important part of the new [climate change] Bill. I hope that some of those enabling powers will encourage energy companies to become energy service companies, so that they are able to sell us as little energy as possible and to make their living by sharing the proceeds of energy saving, rather than by selling us as much energy as possible. If the Bill achieves the establishment of those enabling devices, it will be a very good Bill indeed."

On empowering local councils, he said:

"I disagree with the hon. Member for Meriden and, I assume, the rest of the Conservative Front Bench, in their characterisation of variable charging for waste as a policy that would penalise certain households. Perhaps, rather than being called “variable charging for waste”, it should be called “variable reward for recycling”, because that is how it should be characterised. The idea that local authorities should have the discretion to introduce such devices to push down the levels of waste in a sustainable way is an important one. Similarly, in relation to planning and building regulations, local procurement and a number of other devices are important proposals."

On improving local transport planning, he said:

"The draft road transport Bill will enable local transport authorities to get a much better grip on how sustainable transport can work in their areas. That will be an important cynosure of how the Government intend to join up their approach to climate change and sustainability. If local transport authorities cannot plan how their bus services are to work better, how public transport is to replace private transport wherever possible, and how those networks are to function, they will not have the important weapon in their armoury that they will need to move the process of sustainability forward."

He concluded that in order to tackle Climate Change head on we need a planned and co-ordinated approach and:

“If we can get this balance right, we shall have done ourselves a favour as far as sustainability is concerned. If we get it wrong, however, we shall have put our case back by years. This Queen’s Speech, and the mechanisms outlined in it, should be about ensuring that our progress is sustainable, joined up and in favour of combating climate change.”

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