Editor’s view: Transporting us to a greener future

A cut too far
The Coalition Government has made clear that cutting the deficit is a priority and that everyone must share in the pain. Last week, details of the £34 million cuts to green technology programmes were announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Although not welcome they were broadly expected and may not be too damaging to low carbon investment in the medium term. 

Potentially far more damaging for the Government, though, was this week’s announcement by Defra that it was withdrawing funding to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The SDC is the Government watchdog on sustainability and gets around £4 million funding from central Government, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Defra said this and other cuts to environmental arm’s length bodies would "improve accountability, avoid duplication and lead to essential efficiencies". The problem for the Government is the cut appears measly in comparison to the savings the SDC has enabled Government to achieve through its actions. A report the SDC rather deftly published on the day the cuts were announced, concludes that to date the Government has saved £60 to £70 million a year through sustainable measures across its operations. This relatively small efficiency could end up being very costly politically to a Government that has labeled itself the "greenest Government ever".

The news that US climate change legislation is going to be delayed is a blow not just to the White House, but I suspect to the US economy and elsewhere as well. Republicans are against such legislation because they feel it will hamper economic growth, but they only need to look across the pond, to the UK, where such legislation has been in place for almost two years to see it’s having no impact on the recovery. In fact, quite the opposite – preliminary GDP data, out this week, showed the economy grew 1.1 per cent with manufacturing among those sectors seeing positive growth. Furthermore, in the UK and Europe – although not a universally held belief – a broad spectrum of business leaders are calling for tougher emissions targets than those already in place, because they see this as vital to ensuring Europe takes a lead in global race to manufacture low carbon technology. Without firm commitment from Government that reducing carbon is non-negotiable, they say, investment in green technologies will be undermined. Through delaying this legislation the US is only undermining the transition to a low carbon economy.

More urgent than climate change
Many of us have heard the economic arguments for not ignoring the threat posed by climate change. Far fewer of us, though, have considered the consequences of not looking after our biodiversity. So a report published this month by the UN that examines the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem loss to business makes stark reading. In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has contributed to the report concludes that the decline in biodiversity should be viewed as larger and more urgent to business than climate change. PwC analysis shows less than one in five companies, including many UK household names, see biodiversity as an important business issue despite the fact that it threatens to destabilise consumer prices, business prospects and long term investor security and returns. PwC warns no UK sector or business will escape unaffected by changes and availability of biodiversity and ecosystem 'services’. Such services include water used in food and drink production, timber for packaging, furniture and paper, productive land for fruit and vegetables, and fibres for clothes. This is a serious warning that all businesses would do well not to ignore.

Biomass does not offer a silver bullet
Ever since the Isle of Wight first unveiled its plans to become an Eco Island, it seems to have struggled to live up to the vision, mainly because its local council has to date failed to support wind energy developments on the island. Last week, though, plans were unveiled for a £130 million biomass plant on the outskirts of the island’s capital Newport. The Isle of Wight company behind the scheme, Real Ventures Ltd, has reportedly said it will be fuelled by sustainably sourced wood pellets and would help cut the island’s carbon emissions by 60 per cent. So could this be the answer to Isle of Wight’s Eco Island vision and future energy security? Probably not. For a start, big question marks remain over how sustainable large biomass plants really are. The wood panel industry is so concerned about the impact of these plants are having on its industry its launched a campaign backed up with analysis that shows biomass plants could in fact increase carbon emissions in the UK. 

There’s also the question mark of where these pellets are going to be sustainably sourced from – the island won’t have the capacity to supply them all.

The truth is if the Isle of Wight is serious about addressing its carbon emissions and energy security, it needs to embrace a mix of renewables, not just one.