Scottish government says it will seek updated advice from Committee on Climate Change on meeting 1.5C target, as Westminster government prepares to launch its own net zero review. In the wake of yesterday’s IPCC’s landmark 1.5C report, the Scottish government has promised to look again at what it will take to deliver a net zero economy by 2050. The IPCC report warned yesterday that drastic action is needed to cut global greenhouse gas emissions if society wanted to save the world’s corals, stave off dramatic rises in sea levels, and prevent millions of people falling into poverty as a result of climate change.
Business Green 9th Oct 2018 read more »
Companies selling fossil fuels in Britain should face a steadily rising carbon tax to tackle climate change after Brexit, according to the former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling and the Conservative party grandee Michael Howard. In a cross-party campaign to ensure the government sticks to its commitment to cut carbon emissions after Britain leaves the EU, the two politicians said a tax should be introduced as soon as reasonably possible. Launching a report by the Policy Exchange think-tank calling for the introduction of an economy-wide carbon tax, Darling and Howard said unilateral action was necessary to tackle climate change. “The UK has a duty both to assist developing nations to adapt to the negative effects of climate change and to cut our own emissions faster than those without the means to do so,” they said in a joint statement. The Policy Exchange report says Britain should remain a member of the EU’s flagship emissions trading system (ETS), designed to increase the cost of using carbon across the bloc, until at least 2021. The government could then introduce a carbon tax set at the level of the ETS, which could then be steadily increased in future years.
Guardian 10th Oct 2018 read more »
Michael Gove and the rest of the UK Cabinet have skipped a key international summit on climate change a day after a landmark UN report warned that “urgent” action was needed to avoid global warming disaster. Mr Gove’s department confirmed the environment secretary was not able to attend the meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg, which is specifically about fighting climate change by cutting CO2 emissions, as well as other environmental matters such as biodiversity. Though the meeting was attended by Mr Gove’s top counterparts from countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, he instead sent one of his junior ministers, Therese Coffey, to cover for him – with no member of the UK Cabinet present at the summit. The environment secretary, widely disliked in Brussels for his high-profile role in the Brexit campaign, has failed to attend any of the EU council meetings since he came to office, always sending deputies instead. As well as Ms Coffey, Claire Perry, a middle-ranking minister at the business department who oversees climate change policy also attended.
Independent 9th Oct 2018 read more »
Tell Sid the future of energy is local. IPPR’s Hywel Lloyd and Luke Murphy reveal how a decentralised clean energy system could deliver on the vision of both Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher. As the energy transition toward a decarbonised energy system moves from the low hanging fruit of electricity generation, to the harder to treat questions of heat and transport, how we will arrive at the energy system required. In a recent edited collection from IPPR, it is argued that a new bold ‘local’ vision for the future of the UK energy system is required.
Business Green 10th Oct 2018 read more »