Campaign for annual targets - job done!

Posted on October 27, 2008

The Scottish Greens welcomed today’s announcement by the Scottish Government that their draft Climate Change Bill will now include annual targets for emissions reductions, not just a long-term target of 80% by 2050. Annual targets have been a key Green demand, backed by the leading environmental and international development NGOs (1), and backed by most of the 21,000 individuals who responded to the recent consultation. (2)

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“This is a great day for environmental campaigners, as legislation without annual targets would have let Ministers off the hook on climate change. Annual targets are the only effective way to hold governments to account, and this u-turn means the final Climate Change Bill will now almost certainly have teeth.

“The debate has moved on, and I am delighted to see the SNP accepting our arguments on the inclusion of aviation and shipping, on annual targets, and on the need to tackle all the gases that cause climate change, not just carbon dioxide. There is still more work that needs to be done, though, before this Bill lives up to the SNP’s rhetoric on climate change.

“In particular, real cuts in Scotland’s polluting emissions will only be made if we start to see actual changes in policy, especially in transport, where a shift away from road traffic growth to affordable clean and reliable public transport is urgently required. All too often the Scottish and UK governments have failed to join the dots between greenhouse gas emissions and their own policies. If they don’t scrap outdated ideas like airport expansion and additional road building, SNP Ministers can look forward to coming to Parliament every year and having to explain their failure to hit their own targets.”

Notes

1. Annual targets are backed by Oxfam, WWF Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland and the World Development Movement, amongst others.

2. The consultation response summary notes that “Many [respondents] argued that the Bill should contain an annual target (with many suggesting the need for a 3% per annum reduction) and only a very small number supported the arguments made against annual targets in the consultation document.” See: http://openscotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/08/15113442/1

Greens bid for warm homes money

Posted on October 17, 2008

The Scottish Greens today put beating fuel poverty at the top of the party’s priorities for budget negotiations with SNP Ministers. (1) Green MSPs are urging the SNP Government to bring in free home insulation for all Scots, plus free energy assessments and money to help install green energy. A national programme of this sort would cut household bills, help eliminate fuel poverty and improve health, as well as reducing Scotland’s carbon footprint. A nationwide project would also bring a clear jobs boost, especially for the hard-hit construction industry.

Installing insulation across the whole of Scotland, area-by-area, brings massive efficiencies, making a system of this sort much more cost-effective than the UK Government’s proposals. If the Scottish
Government agrees to amend their budget to back this project, Greens believe it could be part funded by the power companies, who have an obligation to find ways to cut emissions and tackle fuel poverty. (2)

The need is substantial. It was estimated that 650,000 Scots were in fuel poverty last year, although that number has almost certainly risen. (3) The money required to deliver this project will depend on
the exact model to be used, but WWF estimate that ending fuel poverty in Scotland will cost more than £500m a year until 2020. The Scottish Government and Scottish local government already spend an estimated £235m a year in this area, and both private sector and European funding is also available. (4)

Green MSP Robin Harper said:

“It has been hard enough for people to meet their rising bills even before the financial crisis, but now this problem couldn’t be more urgent. I want to see Scotland beat fuel poverty for good, all across
the country from rural Scotland to our biggest cities.

“We’ll be urging politicians from all parties to back this project, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Scottish Government to make all Scotland’s homes warm, green and cheaper to live in.”

Green Councillor Andrew Cooper, who secured a similar deal in Kirklees Council (5), said:

“Greens have already shown how this can work in England. If Huddersfield can deliver free insulation and warm homes for everyone, there’s no reason why Scotland can’t do the same.”

Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, a member organisation of the Fuel Poverty Forum, said:

“Recent reports, including from the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, have confirmed that a step change in the energy efficiency of our homes is needed if we are to tackle the twin scourges of fuel poverty and climate change. Any initiative which helps to deliver this step change is to be welcomed.”

Corinne Evans, Head of Projects & Campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said:

“Nearly a third of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions come from our homes, and more investment in insulation and micropower is desperately needed to reduce those emissions. Any such investment will also deliver lower energy bills and help tackle fuel poverty, giving a win-win situation.”

Norman Kerr, Director of fuel poverty charity Energy Action Scotland, said:

“In line with the recent recommendations by the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, we believe there must be a radical shift in investment as soon as possible if the Scottish Government is to reach its target of ending fuel poverty in Scotland by 2016 as required by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. The only sustainable route out of fuel poverty is to ‘fuel poverty proof’ homes by making them as energy efficient as possible. With the number of fuel poor homes at a record level, action is needed urgently.”

Notes

1. Discussions are beginning around the draft 2009-2010 Scottish Government budget.

In last year’s negotiations, the Scottish Greens secured the following improvements to the 2008-2009 Scottish Government Budget:
i. £18.8m for the party’s Climate Challenge Fund proposal;
ii. Ministers’ agreement that future budgets should be carbon costed, and that future policy decisions will include formal recognition of the associated carbon costs;
iii. A trebling in the level of community and household renewables investment to £13.5m;
iv. Continued ring-fencing of local budgets for cycling and walking as well as the safer routes scheme;
v. The winding-up of the Air Route Development Fund, which went beyond lifeline routes to the islands and promoted unnecessary internal flights; and
vi. An additional £4m to help keep bus fares down and rural routes running.

2. Through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which is expected to bring in £2.8bn of private investment across the UK between 2008 and 2011. See:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/household/supplier/cert.htm

3. Figure from the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. See:
http://www.sfha.co.uk/index.php?pg=105

4. See: http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/carbon_homes_2_1.pdf

5. Kirklees Council is run by a minority Conservative administration, by agreement with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, and the local authority covers Huddersfield and the surrounding area.

Annual climate targets now certain - but how tough?

Posted on October 6, 2008

Today’s late conversion by the Scottish Labour Party to the idea of binding annual targets for climate change emissions makes the inclusion of targets within the forthcoming Holyrood Climate Change Bill a certainty. (1)

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“This welcome switch in Labour’s position means there is now at last a clear majority in Parliament for binding annual reductions in Scotland’s emissions. Despite the SNP’s attempts to backslide on their manifesto commitment, it’s now certain that the Scottish Climate Change Bill will have significantly sharper teeth than the Westminster legislation.

“Annual targets are the best way to hold government properly to account. They will focus the Scottish Government’s attention on the need to turn around their transport and energy policies in particular. The public and the NGOs have rightly put pressure on Parliament to act, and now they can be reassured that Parliament will apply that same pressure to the SNP.

“The key question now, though, is what level will those reductions be set at? Greens argue that 3% a year would be inadequate, and that we need to look towards 4.5% a year to meet our international obligations and to secure the competitive advantages around a faster move to a low carbon economy.”

Notes

1. Sarah Boyack MSP said today: “I back [Oxfam's] call for the Scottish Government to set mandatory annual reductions in emissions”, while the Scottish Green Party’s 2007 mini-manifesto on climate change argued for annual cuts averaging 4.5%. In a Holyrood debate on Climate Change in May 2008, Alison McInnes MSP said: “It is not just the Liberal Democrats who see the necessity for annual targets.” In the same debate Tory MSP Gavin Brown said: “Mandatory annual targets are important if we are to make serious progress towards the 80 per cent figure.”