Climate Change

Airfixed: how the government's Heathrow consultation has been rigged

Posted by jamie — 25 January 2008 at 12:07pm - Comments

The government's consultation on Heathrow is fixed.

  • There is evidence of extraordinary collusion between the government and BAA working together to influence the outcome of the consultation. [1]
  • The prime minister and government ministers have made repeated comments that they want the expansion to go ahead, pre-empting the outcome of the consultation. [2]
  • The evidence put forward within the consultation is confusing and incomplete, making it impossible for people to make an informed response to the consultation. [3]
  • The consultation document is heavily biased, presenting leading commentary on the economic benefits of Heathrow expansion, and down-playing the effects of the proposed expansion on the climate and on Londoners. [4]
Article tagged as: aviation, climate change, co2 emissions, heathrow, transport

Airfixed! Why the government's consultation on Heathrow is a sham

Posted by jossc — 25 January 2008 at 11:36am - Comments

A Greenpeace volunteer at the Heathrow consultation exhibtion in London

Greenpeace volunteers attended the final Heathrow consultation exhibition today to let the public know that the whole process is a sham - ignoring the threat of climate change in favour of the quick profits to be made from airport expansion.

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

A kick up the renewable energy targets

Posted by jamie — 23 January 2008 at 8:31am - Comments

An offshore wind farm

As much as any announcement from the EU can generate enormous anticipation, the proposed renewable energy targets for member states has been eagerly awaited by our climate change team. It's been pretty much public knowledge for some time what the target for the UK is expected to be but never the less, being told to produce 15 per cent of our energy from renewable sources by 2020 will necessarily kick-start a clean energy revolution - currently our renewable energy total is less than 3 per cent, just behind Malta in the EU league table.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy, EU, renewable energy, tidal power, wave power, wind power

More doubts raised over biofuel targets

Posted by jamie — 21 January 2008 at 5:52pm - Comments

Yet more questions have been raised in political circles about biofuel targets. Following last week's statements from the European environment commissioner, Defra's chief scientist and the Royal Society, a parliamentary committee has released its own report which says that pursuing mandatory targets without any form of sustainability criteria attached is not a good idea.

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

'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
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