While we think it's lovely that Defra has launched a carbon calculator, we can't help but notice that a few other organisations have already developed similar tools (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, say).
I'm not knocking carbon calculators (they're useful tools and lots of us here in the office use them), and obviously personal action to help combat climate change is invaluable. But really, is this what David Miliband should be spending his time and our money on?
The calculator, Miliband tells us, is special because, after calculating our emissions, it explains what we can do to reduce them. And because people using it can make suggestions on how to improve it.
A better use of tax payers' money might have been a New Labour carbon calculator. After showing that carbon emissions have risen since New Labour came to power in 1997, it could then suggest a raft of new and urgently needed policies to reduce the UK's emissions. Sorting out the energy system so that our power plants don't waste two thirds of the energy going into them, say. Or maybe investing in a low carbon transport system. Or bringing in minimum efficiency standards on appliances (banning inefficient light bulbs alone could close down two power stations). Or, perhaps, stopping the rush of new coal power plants now in planning in the UK. Or stopping the massive and unsustainable growth in aviation emissions.
Just a suggestion.
