Posts Tagged Environment
North Eastern industry to be decimated – and for what?
Posted by David Merlin-Jones in Announcements, Economics, Environment, Politics, Tax and Spend on 02/06/2011
The government’s green taxes will spell the end for Britain’s chemical industry, which employs 200,000 directly, an additional 400,000 indirectly, and accounts for 15% of UK exports. The sector, much of which is found in North East England, will be the victim of the race to cut emissions by 34% from 1990 levels by 2020: more than any other country’s target. Moreover, this approach by the ‘greenest government ever’, will actually undermine the UK’s ability to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and will smother the emerging low-carbon economy at birth.
Chain Reactions, published by independent think-tank Civitas, draws on the example of the economically vital but energy-intensive chemical industry because, while it is disproportionately affected by energy bills, it also produces a myriad of environmentally-beneficial products such as catalysts and insulation. David Merlin-Jones, author of Chain Reactions, argues that the best way to tackle climate-change is not through the hasty decimation of industry but the long-term nurturing of existing low-carbon innovation as found in the chemical sector.
Carbon capers
Posted by David Merlin-Jones in Economics, Environment, European Union on 20/01/2011
The European carbon market has been temporarily closed after fears that it has been the victim of fraud. Having lost £7 million’s worth of carbon credits, there could be a polluter somewhere in Europe happily belching out their fumes knowing that they won’t be paying for it. This isn’t the first crisis to hit the scheme and the EU should now take a step back and assess if its climate change policies are the optimum way to curb emissions.
Big Brother’s beady eyes
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, European Union, Health, Tax and Spend on 14/05/2008
Is summer now the season for publications pushing increased government intrusion into private conduct? The warm air has been accompanied by the somewhat chillier sensation of the release of two reports with some joyously Orwellian titles: The Politics of Public Behaviour from Demos and Creatures of Habit? The Art of Behavioural Change from the Social Market Foundation. From the mechanisms discussed in both these titles, it seems that the aspiration to get the state more involved in people’s lives remains as strong as ever among many policymakers, but combined (perhaps dangerously) with fresh research into behavioural economics.
How much more jousting for national power before the back of the EU is broken?
Posted by James Gubb in European Union on 30/07/2007
Although only just out of the spotlight of the endless reports on the recent ICG mandate (and no, this is not yet another spiel on the dry subject of the EU constitution), Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s nationalist Polish government is again railing against the rulings of EU authorities. While a dispute over the construction of a bypass through the Rospuda Valley might seem somewhat trivial on the surface, it actually cuts deep into that irritating thing the EU has been plagued with time and time again throughout its history: national sovereignty – writes Pippa Knott.
National Trust goes green
Posted by Nick Cowen in British History on 25/07/2007
The National Trust is to celebrate reaching a 3.5 million-membership landmark by changing its focus. No longer will it just look after the buildings and artefacts that constitute our national heritage. Now it will “advise people how to adapt their lifestyles to climate change and challenge government to be more ecologically aware.” How is it beginning? By throwing its weight behind opposition against the expansion of Stansted airport.
As it so happens, there are a number of simple things that the National Trust could initiate in order to reduce its own ‘carbon footprint’, if indeed that is to be considered a genuine priority. The most obvious would be to eliminate the farming of animals on all its land. Since, according to the currently popular theory of anthropogenic climate change, world meat consumption is a large contributor to global warming, this would mean the National Trust would reduce its own contribution to climate change and be taking a principled stand for other landowners to follow. Indeed, they could set aside their land not for carbon inefficient British agriculture but to grow more forests to act as carbon sinks. Whether the National Trust will commit do doing this remains to be seen.