Skip to content
Greenknight
  • Home
  • Services
    • Resource efficiency
    • Strategy
    • Stakeholder alignment
    • Materiality & risk
    • Audit and review
    • UN SDGs
    • Engaging people
    • Supply chain
    • Consortium building
    • Conferences and Events
    • Chairing and facilitation
  • About
    • Associate organisations
    • Publications
  • Contacts
  • Blog
  • Testimonials

Climate Crisis part 1

Almost out of nowhere the Westminster government has declared a ‘climate emergency’ this week, following the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland, and a number of local government bodies around the UK. This was one of the demands of the Extinction Rebellion movement and the urgency for action featured strongly in the public work of the very establishment figure of Sir David Attenborough, and of Greta Thunberg, the inspiration behind the global School Climate Strikes. The science has also been assembled and published at a global scale by the IPCC and the UK’s own Committee on Climate Change. General public reaction in the UK and elsewhere around the globe has been positive; a recent Greenpeace poll found that two-thirds of the British public agree that there is a climate emergency, and over three-quarters would ‘cast their vote differently to protect the planet’. Those are heartening statistics but, stuck as the country is in heated debate over the question of the UK’s relationship with the EU, the democratic process is currently pointed elsewhere. On top of that, the whole issue of climate has regrettably become politicised, and any policy response must be designed to have as broad appeal as possible to head off the risk of partisan politics derailing action on this common threat.

That begs the question, of course, on what policy interventions could look like. The UK already has the 2008 Climate Change Act, which calls for 80% decarbonisation by 2050 against a 1990 baseline, but it is almost certain that the coming two budget periods will overshoot their targets. What use is legislation that cannot prevent such an outcome? More is clearly needed, and there is talk of extending the target to 100% decarbonisation, but there is a risk of alienating at least part of the public if the way new regulation is designed leads to some feeling that they are economic losers even if only in the short term. The gilets jaunes in France are a lasting reminder of how good intentions can pave the road to infernal flames on the streets. As a general principle, a recent study has found that regulation works in driving carbon reductions. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the US is the country where regulation has been most successful despite climate change also being such a contentious issue there. The target areas are obvious; power generation, transport, especially air travel, home heating and the agri-food system. Many of these are areas in which citizen action can also have an immediate impact, which has already been seen in dietary choices and the rise of ‘flexitarian’ eating, so business is likely to find itself impacted by the consumption end of the value chain, especially if it fails to take meaningful action on the impact of supply.

In the UK, last month saw the introduction of the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Regulations, (SECR) obliging larger businesses to report on their emissions and what they are doing to reduce them. Whilst there is no penalty for non-reduction, there is at least publicity and that should drive improvement as organisations seek to avoid reputational damage. Alongside this, the second phase of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) will oblige the same companies to undertake energy efficiency audits. This legislation also lacks teeth, as there is no obligation to implement any of the opportunities identified by the audits, but at least it shines another light on activity leading to industrial emissions. If the UK departs the EU by October 31st, whatever replaces the Common Agricultural Policy will finally have to confront what will be done with the much-touted question of public money for public goods. There has been much heat but, so far, very little light arising from consultations initiated by Michael Gove at Defra, although I am pleased to have been able to play a part through contributing to the multi-stakeholder round-tables convened by the National Farmers Union (see the ‘Moral Maize’ blog post on the website for more). So much for regulation and policy, for the time being at least. In the second part of this article I will look at business and citizens.

All Change
Climate Crisis part 2

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ethical Corp newsfeed

  • Society Watch: Drive to make ecocide an international crime gains momentum

    Ecocide is an emotive word. First used to describe the human and environmental devastation caused by the use of the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, it became the subject of regular discussions at the United Nations throughout the 1970s. In 1998, the destruction of the environment was proposed as an international crime against peace, but ultimately wasn’t adopted as part of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rome Statute, which includes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.Image: Channels: Climate and EnergyNatural CapitalTags: Stop ecocide internationalInternational Criminal CourtRome statuteEU Environmental Crime Directive

GreenBiz newsfeed

  • Building the Circular Buildings Revolution
    on April 20, 2023 at 7:15 am

    Join GreenBiz for our conversation covering the approaches building product manufacturers are using to make products more circular and keep materials in play after their first use. The idea of buildings as material banks is not new, but deserves examination as it hasn’t taken hold at the scale we would expect.

Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT