Terror Aside, Now for a Climate Fix

In the US, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson says that the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden can open the door for climate change legislation in Congress. He said this at a Climate Leadership event hosted by the Earth Day Network in Washington. Meanwhile, the UK government’s chance of being the “greenest ever” – as the prime minister has claimed – is “vanishingly remote”, a former adviser Jonathon Porritt says. The former head of the Sustainable Development Commission, carried out a review, funded by Friends of the Earth, which examined 75 policies, finding little or no progress in 55.

By Matthew Reichbach in New Mexico Independent  (4 May 2011):

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says that the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden can open the door for climate change legislation in Congress. Richardson made the statements at a Climate Leadership Gala hosted by the Earth Day Network in Washington, according to Politico.

“My hope is that from this success in the foreign policy arena two days ago, that he will be emboldened to take once again to the Congress legislation — not just to increase a renewable energy standard — but climate change legislation that this country and the world need,” Richardson said.

The foreign policy success that Richardson referred to was the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday.

Before being elected New Mexico’s governor in 2002, Richardson served in Congress, as the Secretary of Energy and as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Any climate legislation would face an uphill battle in the current Congress. Republicans control the House of Representatives, and the Senate was unable to reach 60 votes on climate legislation in the last Congress, which had a much higher percentage of Democrats.

Source: www.newmexicoindependent.com

PM’s pledge of greenest government ‘vanishingly remote’

By Roger Harrabin, Environment analyst, BBC News (7 May 2011):

The government’s chance of being the “greenest ever” – as the prime minister has claimed – is “vanishingly remote”, a former adviser has said.

Jonathon Porritt, former head of the Sustainable Development Commission, carried out the review which was funded by Friends of the Earth.

He examined 75 policies, finding little or no progress in 55.

The government said it remains committed to the environment, but the recession had affected its policies.

Green wash

Mr Porritt said the government had scrapped a planned rise in aviation tax, failed to create a green investment bank with immediate borrowing powers and had watered down schemes promoting small-scale renewable electricity.

He added that Prime Minister David Cameron had failed to curb what he calls the Treasury’s fixation with economic growth, whether it damages the environment or not.

Mr Porritt believed that the position of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had been substantially weakened under the coalition government.

He noted that George Osborne, before the election, promised: “If I become chancellor, the Treasury will become a green ally, not a foe” – but Mr Porritt says that the opposite has proved to be the case.

“It is clear the ‘growth at all costs’ lobby has won out over the advocates of sustainable economic development,” Mr Porritt observed.

He added that there were growing fears that Treasury officials were pressuring ministers to reject new carbon reduction targets recommended by the government’s official advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change.

Mr Porritt’s report assessed the coalition government’s record on the five themes identified by ministers as central to ambitions to maintain sustainable development.

Building a Green Economy

Tackling Climate Change

Protecting and Enhancing our Natural Environment

Ensuring Fairness and Wellbeing

Building the Big Society

Of the 75 green policies examined in detail, 28 were judged to be “moribund”, 27 had “very limited growth”, 14 saw “encouraging progress” and “the birds were singing” for just six.

On the positive side, the report mentions: “Scrapping plans to expand airports in the south-east of England, agreeing to roll out smart meters to 30 million homes from 2014 and announcing the world’s first Renewable Heat Incentive.”

Mary Creagh, shadow environment secretary said: “The government has tried to sell off our forests, cut investment in flood defences by 27%, delayed on the waste review and Water White Paper, and abolished the Sustainable Development Commission.

“That’s not a green vision but an abject failure of the government to get to grips with the environment.”

The report was published as an annual survey by journal ENDS revealed that more than a third of organisations which responded to the survey were cutting jobs.

Also, it found that more than half of 2,000 environmental professionals that took part thought that UK green job opportunities would continue to shrink in 2011, and three-in-five expected public spending cuts to directly affect environmental employment in their organisation.

“This survey is a wake-up call for government,” said ENDS editor-in-chief Nick Rowcliffe.

“Real progress towards a greener economy is going to require exactly the multi-disciplinary skills that have built up over years in the environmental profession, and which are now under threat.”

A government spokesman said it stood by its “excellent record on green policies over the last year to protect the environment and deliver the low carbon economy”.

“Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman played a major role in securing an historic global deal to protect wildlife and habitats and, in a tough economic climate, increased the budget for farming environmental schemes by 80%, and provided hundreds of millions of pounds to clean up England’s rivers and support international forestry and wildlife projects,” he said.

“We are currently undertaking the biggest reform of the electricity market since privatisation to secure billions in investment for low carbon electricity generation.

“And there is legislation going through Parliament right now to bring about the green deal, the first scheme of its kind in the world, cutting carbon and bills in millions of homes across the UK.”

Source: www.bbc.co.uk