Climate Change

Last week will be remembered as the week that the British Government showed real leadership in the two most pressing issues facing the world today. 

Firstly, Gordon Brown’s banking rescue package has saved our economy from disaster and provided a template for Governmental action across the world.  The British plan is widely acclaimed and shows the value of having a man with the knowledge and experience of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

The second example came with the announcement that the Government is going to further strengthen its Climate Change Bill.  Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State at the newly created Department for Energy and Climate Change, announced that the Government is to raise its target for reducing carbon emissions from a 60% to an 80% cut by 2050.  This followed the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change which had called for such a cut.  Crucially, this target will include emissions from shipping and aviation, once agreement is reached on how best to calculate such emissions.  For example how do you calculate what country is responsible for emissions from a plane which leaves London for Singapore by a third country’s national airline stopping at Dubai for fuel?.  Aviation and shipping are the fastest growing source of carbon emissions so the sooner agreement is reached the better.  The third crucial element of the announcement was that the Government is to introduce feed-in tariffs in the energy market.  Put simply, feed-in tariffs encourage people to install small scale micro-generation facilities to power their home (solar panels for example) and any excess electricity can be sold back to the grid at a guaranteed high price.  The potential for such a scheme can be seen in Germany where feed-in tariffs have bought about a revolution in small scale renewable electricity generation.  Such incentives encourage people to install renewable energy sources, guarantees them a rate of sale and reduces our dependence on fossil fuels.  

These measures are challenging but, such is the threat posed by climate change, are absolutely necessary.  The investment needed to achieve the targets will be substantial but so are the opportunities.  A so called green-collar revolution in the job market could lead to thousands of new jobs in the environmental technologies sector and I know that our regional minister is determined that the West Midlands play a lead role in this.  Just as North Staffordshire benefited greatly from the industrial revolution so too can it benefit from a green revolution.  Such is the scale of the environmental threat it is vital that we do so.