Blog: Climate

'Divided consumer attitudes' to climate change mirrored by government

Posted by jossc — 18 January 2008 at 5:45pm - Comments

Earlier this week the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released a report identifying things the public should be doing to limit climate change. Third on the list is to "avoid unnecessary short-haul flights". Apparently we find this hard to do because of "divided consumer attitudes" - ie, we want to have our cake and eat it.

Article tagged as: aviation, climate change, co2 emissions, DEFRA, DFT, heathrow, transport

A life in carbon

Posted by jamie — 17 January 2008 at 5:32pm - Comments
The mobGAS carbon calculator

In the past, I've been a bit sniffy about carbon calculators and have tended to dismiss them, although if I'm honest it's been on principle rather than first-hand experience. From what I've seen, they oversimplify an incredibly complex issue and, as a colleague pointed out, shift the weight of responsibility onto individuals when it should be an energy-efficient government that leads the way.

But then I came across mobGAS, a calculator produced by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre which sits on your mobile phone and allows you to enter daily updates about your energy consumption. Hurray, a new application for me to fiddle with in a borderline obsessive-compulsive manner, and an excuse for a broader look at carbon calculators in general.

Article tagged as: carbon calculators, climate change, emissions, energy, energy efficiency

London mayoral candidates unite against Heathrow expansion

Posted by jossc — 16 January 2008 at 4:44pm - Comments

All four London mayoral candidates are unoted against Heathrow expansion

All four leading candidates for the forthcoming London mayoral election have joined forces to fight Gordon Brown's push for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry have all agreed to feature in a new anti-expansion advertising campaign launched today. The ad features in the Times, Guardian, Independent and Evening Standard newspapers.

Article tagged as: airport expansion, aviation, boris johnson, climate change, co2 emissions, heathrow, ken livingstone

Senior EU and Defra figures agree: we were too hasty on biofuel targets

Posted by jamie — 14 January 2008 at 7:11pm - Comments

Biofuels may cause rather than prevent more greenhouse gas emissions

We could be witnessing a seismic and very exciting shift in how UK and EU policies on biofuels are being perceived in official circles. Both the EU Environment Commissioner and Defra's own chief scientist today went on record to say that current plans to vastly increase the amount of fuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel might need to be reconsidered.

Article tagged as: biofuels, climate change, deforestation, EU, forests, rfto

BA reprimanded for lying to its customers

Posted by jossc — 11 January 2008 at 1:01pm - Comments

You may remember that a few weeks ago we ran a story about British Airways emailing the members of its Executive Club (who number in the tens of thousands) asking them to sign a petition supporting the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport.

In it, BA chairman Willie Walsh made the rather remarkable assertion that the massive increase in traffic wouldn't increase emissions in climate change gases. According to Mr Walsh, the fact that airliners would spend less time queuing for take-off and landing spots would reduce CO2 emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, a figure which the email implied had been endorsed by the government.

Article tagged as: aviation, british airways, climate change, heathrow, transport

Germany steps closer to the 100% renewables dream

Posted by bex — 9 January 2008 at 5:17pm - Comments

New coal, new nuclear - the government here seems to be doing everything in its power to avoid facing up to the reality that our energy system is archaic, our energy policy is a disaster, and the new large-scale, centralised coal and nuclear power plants they want won't stop climate change or ensure energy security.

But at least we can glean hope from a more forward thinking European neighbour. Scientists have proved that Germany - which is already way ahead of us on renewables (14 per cent in 2007) - can power itself entirely by renewable energy sources. Completely. 100 per cent.

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, decentralised energy, nuclear power, renewable energy

Drowning in greenwash

Posted by jamie — 9 January 2008 at 4:03pm - Comments

Watching TV used to be a relaxing pleasure but now it makes my blood boil. It's not the programmes so much (although a lot of it is rubbish) but the advert breaks overflowing with greenwash, filled with images of doe-eyed creatures and tranquil woodlands by companies trying to convince me that they're really very green and, actually, always have been.

Article tagged as: adverts, ASA, EDF, eon, greenwash, HSBC, videos
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