There has been a lot in the press recently about the UK’s approach to addressing climate change. On the one hand there are some, the secretary of state for energy and climate change among them, espousing the virtues of the UK’s leadership in this area:
“The UK has been leading the world and bringing the world with us. The historic agreement to cut carbon emissions in Europe by at least 40% by 2030 effectively means our Climate Change Act is being replicated across Europe, just as it is being copied in countries across the world as they seek to cap and cut their own emissions.” (BBC News, Fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 says IPCC, 2 November 2014.)
On the other hand, there are those who deny that the Climate Change Act 2008 (the “2008 Act”) is well-placed to meet the near-emergency status requirement to reduce carbon emissions. This is a very vocal, very small minority, who believe that the 2008 Act is misplaced. This minority would prefer us to invest in more fossil fuel use, which seems a perverse way of dealing with dangerous and man-made climate change.
It is interesting to reflect on the prominence that climate change deniers get in the press. There has been an amusing take on this by John Oliver on the HBO channel in the USA who contends that the press, particularly the broadcast media, mislead the public by presenting the debate as a balanced argument, with those for and against having equal status. But that suggests that there are equal numbers of voices on either side of the issue. There are not.
The massive weight of argument is balanced in favour of the overwhelming science which supports the premise that climate change is occurring, is dangerous and is mostly caused by humankind (see www.theconsensusproject.com).
This month, yet more evidence of this fact came forward in the form of the IPCC’s Climate Change Synthesis Report (2 November 2014). This report is a precursor to attempts to deliver a new global treaty on climate before the end of 2015. In essence the report says that reducing emissions is essential if planetary warming is to be limited below the threshold of dangerous climate change. It reminds us that:
● Warming is “unequivocal” and influenced by humans. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said at the report’s launch: “Science has spoken… There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.”
● Climate warming impacts are already evident around the globe, including in acidification of oceans, melting of icecaps and lower crop yields in many parts of the world.
● Most worryingly, without concerted action on carbon emissions, temperatures will rise and could be almost 5°C above pre-industrial levels within decades, with 2°C being the agreed policy threshold of “dangerous climate change”, which many scientists now claim needs to be lowered
to 1°C.
What needs to be done?
There are two positive things we can do to deal with this: change the type of energy we generate; and change the amount of energy we consume. The former will require the UK to decarbonise its energy supply (including an increase in the amount of energy we generate from renewable energy) as well as ensuring that our current fossil fuel sources are more efficient (ie the reduction, and capture, of carbon emissions from them). The latter will need us to be more efficient in how we heat, cool and light our buildings.
An accusation often levelled against such proposals is that all this will cost too much money. But this argument fails to see any expenditure as an investment not only in our ability to survive in the long term, but also to reap dividends in the short term. The key benefits of such an approach should include:
● reduced exposure to, and cost of, climate hazards;
● job creation and economic growth;
● reduced energy bills and fuel poverty;
● better energy security; and
● improved health and wellbeing.
Visionary policy-makers and businesses are quick to see the triple bottom line opportunities socially, economically and environmentally. The campaigning UK Green Building Council (the “UK-GBC”) has led a coalition of enlightened organisations to set out the benefits of pursuing these aims within the UK’s housing stock, calling it the missing element of the government’s list of infrastructure priorities (A housing stock fit for the future: making home energy efficiency a national infrastructure priority, 24 June 2014). It is pleasing that the Labour Party has picked up this challenge.
If, the UK-GBC rightly argues, the UK was to incorporate home energy efficiency into the National Infrastructure Plan, this would be the only way permanently to reduce energy bills, reduce the cost of decarbonising energy generation and create jobs across the whole of the UK. As with all infrastructure projects, market failures and barriers to delivery would need public investment – but because of the income such investment could create (eg from repayable low cost loans to able-to-pay households), these could in large part be commoditised for the benefit of private institutions, which have a demand for long-term income streams.
But as well as an investment-led approach, we need regulation in this area to deal with the emergency that the deniers would like to ignore. If we are to see a positive, investment-driven approach to dealing with undeniable climate change predictions, we shall need real leadership among policy-makers and businesses to set a trajectory for appropriate action.
In a recent letter to the Daily Telegraph (3 November 2014), 18 leading members of the UK-GBC campaign identified that “swift action is by far the best route to mitigating the significant risks that climate change poses”. They went on to say: “Our businesses are convinced that Britain can and should be a world leader, and that far from being a burden to UK plc, clear commitment to tackling climate change will open up opportunities for businesses both at home and abroad.”
If your business is going to be part of that world leadership, it should join in before it’s too late. Set carbon reduction-targets linked to the science of climate change now, like other forward-thinking business leaders have done and, importantly, share the news of your successes with the UK-GBC.
Miles Keeping is a partner at Deloitte Real Estate
