NEWS RELEASE – Renewable role for the public sector

Scotland has a huge renewable energy potential but will be missing a trick if it allows all of the benefit to be captured by a handful of multinational companies. That’s the warning from Green MSP Patrick Harvie, giving the keynote speech today (17 April) at the Renewable UK International Small and Medium Wind Conference in Glasgow. It is the UK’s first conference of its kind, with over 300 people expected to attend.

Last month Greens used valuable debate time in the Scottish Parliament to argue the case for greater involvement of the public and third sectors in securing the benefits of small and medium scale renewable energy. It resulted in a promise from the energy minister to make his officials available for talks on the issue.

Patrick Harvie said: “Households, small businesses, farms, and the public sector could have a huge role to play in developing small scale renewables which help meet our climate change targets and help share the economic benefits. Scotland’s councils should be leading partners, using public land and buildings to generate clean energy which will bring in much needed funds to protect public services. 

“Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that renewable energy is only ever an industrial-scale enterprise. Scotland could have a truly Green future if we use the transformation of our energy system to benefit the common good, not just business interests. Small is still beautiful and the role of smaller scale wind power should not be underestimated.”

Climate change on Newsnight Scotland

Last night’s edition of Newsnight Scotland focused on climate change, following James Hansen’s appearance at the Edinburgh Science festival to receive the Edinburgh Medal.

Following a profile of Dr Hansen, I took part in a studio discussion with Chris Goodall.

Scotland Tonight

Though the threat of a strike by fuel tanker drivers is receding for now, the UK Government’s mishandling of recent events has been widely condemned. But the longer term issues for a society that’s still fatally dependent on fossil fuel are still worth considering. I discussed these on Thursday’s edition of Scotland Tonight, alongside Alan Douglas and Alex Johnstone MSP.

Greens refer Trump funding to Electoral Commission

Scottish Greens have expressed serious concern that US property tycoon Donald Trump is set to fund a campaign in the Scottish council elections.

In an interview in Holyrood magazine the chair of protest group Communities Against Turbines Scotland talks of plans to use substantial funding from Trump. This overseas donation would go towards a “massive campaign” against Scottish council candidates who have supported wind power developments.

Scottish Greens have referred the matter to the Electoral Commission for investigation.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said:

“It’s bad enough that Mr Trump has thrown a hissy fit about the chance that he might be able to see turbines from his golf resort, and has threatened to abuse the planning and legal systems to undermine Scotland’s energy industry. But the possibility that a foreign billionaire will seek to use his wealth to influence the local elections is outrageous.

“This is not America, and our political process is not for sale at any price.”

UPDATE: 3:50pm
I’ve just had two phone calls about this. The first was from Mr George Sorial, who will be familair to those who have followed the Menie Estate saga as executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation. By turns nice and nasty (one minute telling me I’ve “crossed over the line” and the next inviting me to Menie for a personal tour of the golf course) he certainly seemed rattled by the suggestion that there could be rules breached. He did give me a clear assurance that this won’t happen; which leaves me wondering whether Ms Crosthwaite of CATS will find her hopes for a well funded political campaign dashed. I think Mr Sorial and I ended the call by agreeing that everyone involved has the right of free speech, which is of course reassuring.
The other call was from the Electoral Commission, to let me know the spending limits for non-party campaigns in the local elections, as outlined in their guidance, and to confirm that any breaches of the rules would be a matter for the police. The matter of judgement, about whether to accept a foreign donation for the purpose of a clearly domestic policy campaign, may end up being one for CATS to reach. No doubt we’ll have the chance to discuss this with them face to face at the committee inquiry next month.

NEWS RELEASE – Energy Ministers clueless on climate impact of fracking

Greens have today warned that both the Scottish and UK Governments are failing to properly assess the carbon impact of a potential era of UK gas extraction by the controversial process of fracking.

Appearing before the Economy, Energy and Tourism committee of the Scottish Parliament, both UK and Scottish Government Energy Ministers were questioned by Patrick Harvie MSP on whether the climate change impacts of the gas extracted would be taken into account during the licensing process.(1) The UK Minister, Charles Hendry MP, confirmed that climate change would not be a factor considered.

Respected climate researchers at the Tyndall Centre estimate that if just 20% of shale gas reserves identified in Lancashire are burnt, 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide would be released: 15% of the UK’s carbon budget to 2050.(2)

In November 2011, SEPA granted a licence for the extraction of coal bed methane in Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway. Another firm is drilling for coal bed methane in Airth, Falkirk, though without yet using the fracking technique.

Patrick Harvie said:

“Charles Hendry showed the UK Government’s breath-taking irresponsibility in admitting that the climate change impact of shale gas will not be a factor in deciding whether to approve applications for fracking. But that was nothing compared to the Scottish Minister Fergus Ewing, who appeared to be completely at sea on this issue.

“I have been asking questions regularly on this for months now, and the Minister knew it was coming up at today’s meeting. I’m shocked that he remained unable or unwilling to answer a few clear and specific questions, and it’s clear that if Scotland is going to resist this dangerous new drive to extract ever more fossil fuels, we’ll need a Minister who is at least up to speed on the basics.”

Notes

1. Scottish Planning Policy states that ‘potential pollution of land, air and water’ should be considered factors in planning decisions. See paragraph 232.

2. For an estimate of the carbon impact of UK shale gas, see the Tyndall Centre report, especially the last paragraph.

Letter to the Herald – Captured carbon

I don’t know if this will be printed in Friday’s paper, but here’s what I sent:

The collapse of the CCS project at Longannet highlights the uncertainty which exists, given the technical and financial challenges of capturing carbon dioxide from power stations, transporting it safely, and then storing it in a way that gives confidence that it will stay where it’s put for a period of time which must be measured in geological terms, not in business or electoral cycles. If it can be done, it will help to smooth the transition away from fossil fuels. It’s a pretty big if.

Both UK and Scottish Governments have ignored this “if”, as they seek cover for the expansion of the fossil fuel industries – both extractive and power generating. The SNP in particular have worked a very clever trick of promoting both a high-carbon and a low-carbon economy at the same time. As well as support for renewables, we’ve seen an expansion of open cast coal extraction, proposed coal-fired and gas-fired power stations, fulsome Ministerial support for deepwater oil drilling and a refusal to rule out shale gas extraction.

Whether we blame technical problems, financial risks, or Treasury shenanigans for the failure of the Longannet project, the fact is that CCS remains a speculative technology that will not be available for many years, if ever. Ministers in both Governments must now abandon their support for new fossil fuel generating capacity. They must also, if they are serious about wanting fossil carbon to stay out of the atmosphere, accept the need to leave it where it is. It is already captured, in the ground and under the seas. If it’s extracted it will be burned, and it makes no difference whatever to the climate whether it shows up on Scotland’s emissions inventory or someone else’s.

Sincerely,

Patrick Harvie

Newsnight Scotland on carbon capture

Last night Newsnight Scotland discussed the possible collapse of Scottish Power’s project to develop carbon capture and storage technology at Longannet, which the Guardian reported earlier in the day.

Newsnight invited me to discuss it with Professor Stuart Haszeldine of Edinburgh University.

We’ve always been willing to support research into CCS technology, but I’ve been consistently challenging the Scottish Government not to approve new fossil-fuel power stations on the assumption that CCS can be fitted later. It’s a speculative technology, and if it pays off one day it could play a huge role. But till then the focus needs to be on cutting our energy demand, and generating as much as we can from renewables.

NEWS RELEASE – Deepwater oil

Today’s vote in the European Parliament on the regulation of deep-water drilling continues to leave Scotland’s environment dangerously exposed, argue Scottish Greens. The text passed claimed that an EU-wide moratorium on new drilling would be disproportionate, although the European Parliament did agree to extend impact assessments, independent inspections and mandatory insurance for companies applying for new licenses. Proposals for a new European regulator for offshore activities were also rejected.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The European Parliament have simply failed to take account of the risk posed by deepwater drilling in Scotland’s waters. Greens continue to argue for a moratorium on new drilling after BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster and Shell’s leak in the North Sea this summer, but it looks as if MEPs have been persuaded by the oil lobbyists that the safety of their profits should come before the safety of the marine environment.”

NEWS RELEASE – Ministers urged to block RBS dirty investment

Ahead of a reception for RBS at Holyrood tonight, the Scottish Green MSPs have lodged a motion (1) urging UK Ministers to end the publicly-owned banks’ support for polluting activities like the exploitation of tar sands. (2) RBS has lent almost £3.6bn to support these projects since being bought by the UK taxpayer in 2008, and has facilitated a further £9.3bn in equity finance. (3) Extraction from tar sands is intensely polluting, disruptive to local environments, and has serious impacts on native communities in Canada and elsewhere. (4) Activists from the World Development Movement will be outside Parliament tonight to provide briefing material for guests attending this event.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“It’s bad enough for privately owned banks to be supporting this kind of socially and environmentally destructive investment, but it’s unforgiveable from banks we own. Three years ago the taxpayer saved RBS from collapse. That would have been a good point for the company to have stopped treating the environment as an inconvenient obstacle to the extraction of the dirtiest fuels ever burnt. UK Ministers, like their Scottish counterparts, are very proud of their legally binding carbon emission targets. So why are they letting a state-owned enterprise undermine these same targets?

“RBS show no sign of wanting to clean up their act voluntarily, and are increasingly becoming a by-word for corporate social irresponsibility. The British public are the majority shareholders, so it’s time we, through the UK Ministers who are supposed to represent our collective interests, started to exert some control. This sort of unqualified pursuit of short-term profit is what got the Bank into a hole in the first place, after all.”

Notes

1. The motion in Patrick Harvie’s name reads as follows.
That the Parliament congratulates the World Development Movement, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and other campaigning organisations for their work exposing the role of the Royal Bank of Scotland in financing the fossil fuel industry; notes in particular the Bank’s involvement with companies extracting tar sands in Madagascar and Canada; considers these tar sand developments to be socially destructive and environmentally reckless; notes that since the public sector bail-out of the Bank it has provided finance of nearly £3.6 billion to fossil fuel companies and has helped raise equity finance worth an additional £9.3 billion; considers this to be a disgraceful record for any bank, but all the more so for a bank which is largely owned by the public; calls upon the UK Government to require publicly owned financial institutions to reorient their lending and investment to support economic activity which is compatible with the public interest and with objectives set in UK and Scottish law, most notably the urgent need to reduce of CO2 emissions; and in particular calls on the UK Government to ensure that no further support of any kind is given by any of the publicly owned banking institutions for the extraction of tar sands.

2. For more information on RBS’s involvement in funding tar sands projects, and for WDM’s campaign against it, see:
http://scot.gr/jy

3. This information was compiled from Bloomberg data:
http://scot.gr/jz

4. FoE Scotland have information about the social and environmental damage caused by tar sands projects here:
http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/tarsands

NEWS RELEASE – Greens set out comprehensive challenge on climate

Patrick Harvie will take part in tonight’s Climate Day election debate, organised by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. (1) In advance of the debate the Scottish Greens outlined a package of the five most important policy changes required if Scotland is to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change, and also to see the benefits of a shift to a low carbon economy and society.

* Taking the Climate Challenge Fund to the next level: Greens in the last Parliament persuaded the SNP to deliver a £37m fund to support hundreds of community-led carbon reduction projects across Scotland. Greens will increase funding for this project to £125m over the next session, including simpler support for smaller projects and a partnering scheme to share community expertise.

* A shift away from road and air: blocking the unsustainable and ineffective Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, and repairing the existing Forth Road Bridge and other existing roads rather than building additional capacity. Greens would end all airport expansion in Scotland, and provide financial support to cut public transport fares and support new infrastructure, including park and ride facilities, more rail electrification and re-opening railway stations, as well as specific funding for walking and cycling.

* Getting to green-only energy: shifting Scotland’s entire electricity supply to a broad mix of renewables by 2020 and starting to export our surplus, both within the UK and beyond. All Scotland’s nuclear and large-scale fossil fuel capacity to be phased out entirely. Carbon capture and storage is unproven and we cannot rely upon it.

* Insulating all Scotland’s homes: as launched earlier this week, a £100 million per year scheme to insulate every home in Scotland, including free loft and cavity insulation for every home which can benefit from it, plus soft loans for more substantial energy efficiency measures. This policy alone would deliver a reduction in emissions of more than 6% once complete.

* Toughening the targets: taking annual targets to reduce emissions up to 4.5%. The 2007 SNP manifesto pledged 3% per annum, but in October 2010, with Lib Dem and Conservative support, SNP Ministers passed targets of 0% (2010), 0.5% (2011) and 0.3% (2012). Greens were the only party to oppose these inadequate annual targets.

Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, speaking ahead of the Climate Day election debate, said:

“Tackling climate change and building a successful low-carbon Scotland are threads that run through the fabric of our whole approach to politics. Other parties may talk about climate change in their manifesto, but once the votes are counted they all revert to type. Only Greens will remain uncompromising in our approach to climate change, and only Greens are offering a serious shift away from the polluting and inefficient policies pursued at Holyrood since 1999.

“Greens will toughen Parliament’s laughable emissions targets, involve communities across Scotland by trebling support for our successful Climate Challenge Fund project, shift funding from roads to public transport and active travel, decarbonise our energy supply completely, and insulate every home. These are long-term changes, but the next Parliament must make a start. We cannot afford another twelve years where Ministers alternate between inaction and steps in the wrong direction.

“The climate contortions of the other parties are there for all to see. They talk about the renewables revolution, but in London and Edinburgh, all of them back either dirty new coal plants or risky nuclear. They spout hot air about sustainable transport, yet all the other parties voted for new climate-busting motorway and bridge projects. Only Greens opposed the virtually flatline carbon targets proposed last year. Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and even the Tories claim to be part of the solution on climate change. The reality is they’re still at the heart of the problem.

“There is an urgent need to tackle climate change, but the social costs of Scotland’s oil dependency are also becoming much more obvious. Fuel prices will continue to rise as global oil supplies reach their peak, and food and energy prices will follow. Economies which can break their dependence on oil and other fossil fuels will thrive, but continuing with business as usual politics on this issue would expose Scotland to poverty and stagnation. Only the Scottish Greens have a credible and coherent vision for a green Scotland, and only the Greens have the determination needed to see this vision delivered.”

Climate Day is an initiative by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland – a diverse coalition of over 60 organisations campaigning together on climate change. As part of ‘Climate Day’, this evening (Wednesday 13th April at 7:30pm) Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is organising Scotland’s first live online election debate on climate change between the main political parties.