#GE2017 Green Party

This is a rather late and a shorter version. But the Green Party made it easy to pick out their environmental pledges. They are the only party with a separate environment manifesto – perhaps not surprisingly. It can be seen here.

Green Party’s key environmental policies are on this webpage, easy to see:

• An Environmental Protection Act to safeguard and restore our environment, protect and enhance biodiversity, promote sustainable food and farming, and ensure animal protection.
• A public works programme of insulation to make every home warm and investing in flood defences and natural flood management to make every community safer.
• Equality of access to nature and green spaces, to enhance leisure, health and wellbeing.
• Active ongoing cooperation with businesses and other countries to limit global temperature increases to well below 2 degrees and aiming for 1.5 degrees.
• Replacing fracking, coal power stations, subsidies to fossil fuels and nuclear with the clean green efficient renewable energy of the future, and investing in community owned energy.

• Introduce a one-off fine on car manufacturers who cheated the emissions testing regime and create a new Clean Air Act, expanding and funding a mandatory clean air zone network.
• Strong protection for the Green Belt, National Parks, SSSIs and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
• A wider, more effective network of marine protected areas around our coasts, including fully protected no take zones.
• Tough action to reduce plastic and other waste, including the introduction of Deposit Return Schemes, with a zero waste target.

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#GE2017 Liberal Democrats

LibDem Manifesto – Environmental Coverage

LibDems have the longest section on the environment. You can click on the title above to go to the page where you can see the Manifesto. There are no costings that accompany this manifesto. The summary below shows quotations from the manifesto (in italics with page numbers reported) and some commentary.  The titles are mostly as they appear in the manifesto, unless statements are grouped.

Brexit and Environment

“Maintaining environmental standards: The European Union has created the highest environmental standards in the world. We have a duty to future generations to protect our environment and tackle climate change. Liberal Democrats will ensure that everything is done to maintain those high standards in UK law, including the closest possible co-operation on climate and energy policy.” P.11

 Investment

“We will ensure that the National Infrastructure Commission takes fully into account the environmental implications of all national infrastructure decisions.” P.37

“Traditional indicators of economic activity such as GDP are poor guides to genuine prosperity and wellbeing. We will therefore introduce a National Wellbeing Strategy covering all aspects of government policy, including health, housing and the environment.” P.39

Devolved Administrations

• “Provide assistance to areas heavily dependent on fossil fuel industries, such as the north-east of Scotland, to diversify away from these industries.
• Give the immediate go-ahead to the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project.” P.44

Keeping Our Country Green

This is the main environment chapter of the manifesto. The priorities are:

• “Ensuring that four million properties receive insulation retrofits by 2022, prioritising fuel-poor households.
• Preventing 40,000 deaths a year with our Air Quality Plan to reduce air pollution.
• Ensuring British farming remains competitive and doesn’t lose out – refocusing support towards producing healthy food and public benefits.” 47

This Section is too long to reproduce here (pages 47 – 54). But as a summary:

Five new green laws are proposed: a Green Transport Act, a Zero-Carbon Britain Act, a Nature Act, a Green Buildings Act, and a Zero-Waste Act to “incorporate existing EU environmental protections, maintain product standards such as for energy efficiency, and establish a framework for continual improvement”. P.47

The Liberal Democrats pledge to pass a Zero-Carbon Britain Act to set new legally binding targets to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2040 and to zero by 2050.

Energy

The manifesto includes the aim to generate 60% of electricity from renewables by 2030, restore government support for solar PV and onshore wind in appropriate locations and build more interconnectors to underpin this higher reliance on renewables.

Saving energy will be a top infrastructure priority and a new Green Buildings Act will be passed to set new energy efficiency targets, including a long-term ambition for every home in England to reach at least an energy rating of Band C by 2035. The comment I made about overheating when reviewing the Labour manifesto about insulating houses applies here too.

Close to our work the chapter also mentions the Natural Capital Committee (the only manifesto to do so, so far, though of course outcomes are more important than processes). The Liberal Democrats will pass a Nature Act to “put the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) on a statutory footing, set legally binding natural capital targets, including on biodiversity, clean air and water, and empower the NCC to recommend actions to meet these targets”. P.50

International Development

“Provide greater resources for international environmental co-operation, particularly on climate change and on actions to tackle illegal and unsustainable trade in timber, wildlife, ivory and fish.” P.85

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#GE2017 Labour Party

Labour Manifesto – environmental coverage

‘Environment’ appears as a sub-title in the ‘Leading Richer Lives’ section. While I like the acknowledgement of the contribution of the environment to ‘richer’ lives, I was initially concerned that they allocated only one page to the topic out of 123. But reading through the whole text reveals environmental issues have been woven into almost all the Chapters.

You can click on the title above to go to the page where you can see both the Manifesto. The costings that accompany this manifesto can also be found in the same link. The summary below shows quotations from the manifesto (in italics with page numbers reported) and some commentary.  The titles are mostly as they appear in the manifesto, unless statements are grouped.

Industrial Strategy

“National and local government spends £200 billion a year in the private-sector procurement. Labour will put that spending power to good use to upgrade our economy, create good local jobs and reduce inequality. We will require firms supplying national or local government to meet the high standards we should expect of all businesses: paying their taxes, recognising trade unions, respecting workers’ rights and equal opportunities, protecting the environment, providing training, and paying suppliers on time.” P. 14

Environmental Policy and Brexit

“We will drop the Conservatives’ Great Repeal Bill, replacing it with an EU Rights and Protections Bill that will ensure there is no detrimental change to workers’ rights, equality law, consumer rights or environmental protections as a result of Brexit.

Throughout the Brexit process, we will make sure that all EU-derived laws that are of benefit 􀈂 including workplace laws, consumer rights and environmental protections – are fully protected without qualifications, limitations or sunset clauses.” p.25

“A Labour approach to Brexit will ensure there can be no rolling back of key rights and protections and that the UK does not lag behind Europe in workplace protections and environmental standards in future.” p.26

Energy

“We will transform our energy systems, investing in new, state-of-the-art low-carbon gas and renewable electricity production” p.12

“…ensure that 60% of the UK’s energy comes from zero-carbon or renewable sources by 2030” p.14

“…to ensure we meet our climate change targets and transition to a low-carbon economy” p.20

“For renters, Labour will improve on existing Landlord Energy Efficiency regulations and re-establish the Landlord Energy Saving Allowance to encourage the uptake of efficiency measures.” p.21

“Labour will ban fracking because it would lock us into an energy infrastructure based on fossil fuels, long after the point in 2030 when the Committee of Climate Change says gas in the UK must sharply decline.” p.21

Climate Change – mitigation and adaptation

“Labour will insulate four million homes as an infrastructure priority to help those who suffer cold homes each winter.” p.20. This insulation design and materials should also take account of homes overheating due to increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather (like heat waves) due to climate change (see Climate Change Risk Assessment).

“We will insulate more homes to help people manage the cost of energy bills, to reduce preventable winter deaths, and to meet our climate change targets.” P.60

“We will reclaim Britain’s leading role in tackling climate change, working hard to preserve the Paris Agreement and deliver on international commitments to reduce emissions while mitigating the impacts of climate change on developing countries.” P.118

Transport

“We will retrofit thousands of diesel busses in areas with the most severe air quality problems to Euro 6 standards.” P.91

“We welcome the work done by the Airports Commission, and we will guarantee that any airport expansion adheres to our tests that require noise issues to be addressed, air quality to be protected, the UK’s climate change obligations met and growth across the country supported.” P. 92

 Water

“Replace our dysfunctional water system with a network of regional publicly-owned water companies.” p.19. Commenting on the merits of this, or supporting this proposal (or not) is not my intention, neither am I able to do this. Serious work needs to be undertaken on defining dysfunctional, assessing the feasibility of this proposal and drawing regional boundaries. If the regions were defined according to catchment (or several catchments) boundaries, then they would be in line with the ‘catchment management / partnership’ approach that has been gaining traction.

Land Use

“We will prioritise brownfield sites and protect the green belt.” p.60

Environment Sub-Section – key actions (p 93-94)

Investing in our environment is investing in our future. We will defend and extend existing environmental protections. We will champion sustainable farming, food and fishing by investing in and promoting skills, technology, market access and innovation.

• prioritise a sustainable, long-term future for our farming, fishing and food industries, fund robust flood resilience, invest in rural and coastal communities, and guarantee the protection and advancement of environmental quality standards.
• Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act to deal with the Conservative legacy of illegal air quality.
• We will safeguard habitats and species in the ‘blue belts’ of the seas and oceans surrounding our island.
• We will set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes, working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste.
• We will protect our bees by prohibiting neonicotinoids as soon as our EU relationship allows us to do so.
• We will work with farmers and foresters to plant a million trees of native species to promote biodiversity and better flood management.
• Labour will keep them in public hands.
• Our stewardship of the environment needs to be founded on sound principles and based on scientific assessments. We will establish a science innovation fund, working with farmers and fisheries that will include support for our small scale fishing fleet.

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UK General Election 2017 – environmental manifestos

 

Call me a silly cow but I’m excited about this election because I don’t think it’s only about Brexit!

I think it’s about making a decision on what role we want for the public sector and policy in all areas of government. It’s about the vision for the kind of country we want to live in. A good Brexit deal will then be one which helps us the most in making that vision reality.

It is also for this reason that I’ve read the main parties’ manifestos and will be writing a series on their coverage of environmental issues and policies.

I did this back in 2005. It was the first election I could vote in, in these pastures.

In 2010, I only searched for some key words through the texts.

This year….did I say I am excited about this election?!

So, every day this week you will get a review of the environmental pledges of a political party.  I’ll add the links here as they come online.

Conservative Party manifesto 2017 – environment overview

Labour Party manifesto 2017 – environment overview

Liberal Democrat manifesto 2017 – environment overview

UKIP manifesto 2017 – environment overview

Green Party manifesto 2017 – environment overview

For a final word from me on the manifestos click here

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Biodiversity Offsets Blog

For your consideration:

The recently started Biodiversity Offsets Blog aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for the information and exchange on Biodiversity Offsets and the Mitigation Hierarchy.

The goal is to mainstream and facilitate the discussion on Biodiversity Offsets. The focus lies on biodiversity offsets as such (not market based instruments or other more general topics). The formerly widespread information shall be brought together to make it easily accessible for a maximum of people and thereby to unite the societal debate with academic findings and practical insights. This includes joining different perspectives (biodiversity offsets are not restricted to the interest of business).
The Biodiversity Offsets Blog combines general information (including an updated list of experts, literature, websites etc.) with frequent blog posts on new articles, scientific papers, political news, offset examples on the ground and so on.
As the platform shall bring people and their expertise together, all those who are interested are encouraged to share their knowledge, views, questions or concerns and help to build a broad information base. Find out more on www.biodiversityoffsets.net.

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Why putting environment into economic growth makes me sick.

A blog by Limu:

A juxtaposition of announcements on how short-sighted political leadership is missing the evidence on the value of the environment were published last week.

Europe’s new structures battered the environment into a market defined role. A letter to the new European Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner emphasises a reporting line to a new vice-president for growth, jobs, competitiveness and investment.

On the same day a medical doctor at Aston University came up with an excellent quote on walking as ‘a magic pill’ to slow ageing (it’ll prevent obesity and diabetes, lower the risk of some cancers, and relieve depression… really magic). The evidence on accessible natural green space being a key way to motivate exercise existed 10 years ago and has strengthened since.

I think that regarding the environment as just another tool for expanding GDP, weakening its protection, is wrong. It makes me sick. It’ll make you sick too.

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Deep Decarbonisation

I’ve joined the herd from the United States, where, painfully, the decades-old debate over whether human-induced climate change exists continues. There is common sentiment shared by those who aren’t selective about whether to believe science (and so are on the side of believing its human-induced existence) that the conversation must be shifted from a debate about whether or not it exists, or is in fact human-induced, to one which involves a serious discussion of strategies to meet emission targets and stabilize the climate. Here in the UK, the occurrence of extreme weather events (expected to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change) such as the recent landfall of the ex-hurricane Bertha, which saw some areas receiving more rain in 24 hours than they would expect in the entire month of August, further emphasises the need for a strategy.

Meeting the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2ºC, will require that global net emissions of greenhouse gases approach zero by the second half of the century. In other words, the profound transformation of political, societal and energy systems need be agreed upon and implemented in a smaller time frame than the ‘is there, isn’t there’ debate has existed.

The Deep Decarbonisation Pathways report, released in June by the UN secretary general, focuses on technically feasible pathways to deep decarbonisation with the aim of achieving the emission reductions consistent with meeting this international target. Strategies for twelve countries are highlighted, including the UK.

The report identifies the UK’s major drivers of future carbon emissions as economic growth and population growth, and explains their role within the strategy. The pathway presented for the UK allows for economic growth of between 2.2% – 2.5%, and focuses on the three sectors constituting the largest sources of emissions: power generation, transport, and buildings. The stages identified include the decarbonisation of the power industry by 2030, with low-carbon electricity allowing for emission reductions in end-use sectors (replacing gas use in buildings and liquid fuels in transport) in the years 2030-2050. Along with fuel switching to electrification within transport (65% of car travel to be met by electric vehicles by 2050) and buildings (20 million homes switching to heat pumps and heating district schemes by 2050), efficiency and technology retrofits by 2030 are also envisaged.

The report should draw scrutiny and incite debate, and is self-admittedly incomplete and preliminary. It presents feasible actions, timelines and scenarios, but more importantly can stimulate the necessary shift in the conversation towards zero carbon economy strategies.

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The Business of Natural Capital

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business Coalition recently rebranded itself to the Natural Capital Coalition. This is one example of how the term ‘Natural Capital’ is increasing in popularity…but what is it? Essentially, it is the goods and services that nature provides us. An informative and accessible blog post on the ICAEW* website highlights that, other than sustaining life on Earth, nature provides us with goods and services that people value and should really recognise. There is a business workshop being held on 3April – organised by UKNEE** and University College London – that will be discussing the latest research in how businesses can incorporate natural capital into their accounting structures so that its value can be recognised.

For example, as the UK’s current flooding demonstrates, woodlands and other habitats are good at regulating water and slowing the uptake into rivers.

 

We invest in human capital and physical capital because they are productive; so by conserving their condition, they will continue to generate goods and services for us. Just as by training your employees and purchasing new machinery you are likely to generate more revenue as a business, if we agree that Natural Capital exists, why should we not also invest in improving it? For example, by investing more in the management of woodlands and upstream habitats mentioned previously, one is able to reduce the risk of flooding further downstream. A post in The Guardian by George Monbiot sheds light on this factor in more detail with regards to the recent UK floods.

Often, as the example above illustrates, the benefits of improving natural capital are public, but there are occasions where businesses can identify natural resources that generate a revenue for them at a private level (or reduce revenue if they were to be removed­­). Therefore, instead of having almost a zero value in private decision-making, nature can be recognised as an input in the production process, just like human and physical capital are.

*ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)

** UK Network of Environmental Economists

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A FiT Malaysia? Part 2: A Cap that FiTs?

An Introduction to Feed-in Tariffs

You might already be familiar with the concept of Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) from the UK FiT programme which was introduced in 2010, or other FiT programmes which have popped up all over the world in the past few years.  The basic purpose of FiT is to provide incentives for national investment in renewable energy technology.  To do this FiT schemes allow and encourage smaller providers (single to double digit kilowatts), including households, to generate electricity from renewable energy for feed-in to the grid.  These small-scale producers are paid a fixed price per kWh produced that is over the market price for electricity and is guaranteed for a long term (16-21 years in Malaysia, depending on the energy source). This premium price makes it worthwhile for them to invest in the initial outlay costs for installing the energy generation technology.

The rates that small-scale providers are offered differ depending on the form of renewable energy used: typically solar rates are higher and hydropower rates are lower, to reflect the efficiency of the technology – for example currently small hydropower generates electricity at a lower cost compared to solar photovoltaic (solar-PV) and is therefore more efficient.  This evens out the playing field for the different technologies so that non-mature technologies (such as solar-PV) will continue to receive investment, instead of investors opting for mature technologies that provide a higher return for cost without subsidy.  In Malaysia, rates can also be added to when the technology used achieves some ideal goals, such as being locally manufactured or assembled, or by using certain technology (see ‘bonus rates’ on the ‘FiT dashboard’ on the SEDA website).

The rates offered are also depreciated annually to reflect that over time as technology progresses, renewable electricity should get cheaper to produce.  So for instance an installation of solar-PV in 2014 will receive a higher annual rate than an installation of hydropower in 2014, but a lower annual rate than an installation of solar-PV in 2013, as it is thought that the solar-PV installation in 2014 would use better, more efficient technology to create a higher electricity to cost ratio.  In the Malaysian FiT programme, the annual rate for hydropower doesn’t depreciate over time, as it assumes that the technology for hydropower is mature and is unlikely to become much more efficient.

The Malaysian difference

The Malaysian FiT programme follows the basic FiT structure described above but differs significantly from other programmes in that it introduces an annual quota.  The quota caps the amount of electricity generation from each source of renewable energy available for the FiT scheme each year and is based on the amount of money collected from the 1% electricity bill charge (see my previous post) from the previous year.

The quota has two main purposes: the first is to ensure there is a maximum amount of money that the government pays out annually for the scheme, and the second is to control what renewable energy technologies are invested in that year, with the purpose of focusing the growth of renewable energy on proven and mature technologies in the short-term, and, once the mature technologies have reached capacity, on technologies that are currently still developing (such as solar-PV) in the long-term.  This means that Malaysia won’t be installing the bulk of the renewable energy technologies that are still developing until later, when they are more developed, which allows them to take advantage of research that the rest of the world have done.

The renewable energy technology available for the FiT scheme in Malaysia are: biomass; biogas; mini-hydro (not exceeding 30 MW), and Solar-PV.  SEDA, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) who is responsible for the management of the FiT believes that Malaysia is not well suited for wind power.

The National Renewable Energy Installed Capacity by source goals, from SEDA

To combat allegations of corruption, the allocation of the quota is based on a first come first serve basis. Applications are made by the SEDA website and the companies and individuals awarded are accessible on the website.

The obvious downside to the quota is that once the quota has been reached it is likely to disincentivise renewable energy installations.  It is easy to imagine a situation where, once the quota is reached, interested parties decide to wait until the next year to implement.  Once that year rolls around, the quota disappears like Glastonbury tickets but, like Glastonbury, hundreds or thousands are left without quota.  It is hard to say how likely this scenario could be, however the 2013 quota for 20MW Solar-PV disappeared within an hour of it being available[1].

On the flip side, no one can blame Malaysia for being eager to avoid the problems other nations have experienced with an unprecedented large take-up of FiT (see Limu’s take on the UK experience).  It could even be argued that the UK and Spanish FiT programmes had implicit quotas which, once breached, or with the threat of being breached, caused the FiT rate to be lowered (UK) or for the programme to be frozen (Spain).  Given this argument, it is unlikely that the quotas will ever disappear completely, however given time, experience and public support it is possible that the quota could rise to a level where it becomes more of a safeguard to government funds than a limit to the installation of renewable energy.

A note on Solar-PV

Despite the current limited quota for Solar-PV, SEDA seemed to be very excited about the potential for solar.  Malaysia receives a great deal more sun than the UK, from an annual average value of 1,470 kWh/m² to 1,785 kWh/m² of solar irradiance in Malaysian cities[2] (compare this to the UK annual average of 950 kWh[3]).  As well as the large electricity generating potential, SEDA were also excited about the ability of solar-PV to ‘democratize energy’, as Solar-PV technology gives all homeowners the chance to generate their own electricity.  This means that if/when electricity prices rise, homeowners do not become hostage to energy companies (although there is only one in Malaysia) and they can also decide to reduce their useage to sell their electricity on for a higher price.  In short, the householder becomes a ‘prosumer’ – both a producer and consumer to/from the grid.  Perhaps SEDA are especially keen on this idea because the pre-FiT programme to promote investment in renewable energy was shelved as (so they tell us) the single Malaysian electricity company refused to offer fair prices to potential producers.

I’m signing off now from sunny Malaysia, but I would be interested in hearing what you think of the Malaysian FiT quota?  Should DECC have established an explicit quota rather than disappoint investors when it prematurely lowered the tariff rate for solar?  How do you think it will affect the growth of renewable energy technology in Malaysia?

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[1] SEDA Portal: Quota for 20MW Solar Photovoltaic released by SEDA Malaysia taken up within an hour

[2] (Malaysia) National Renewable Energy Policy & Action Plan, SEDA (2009)

[3] The potential of solar Energy in the UK, Cynthia Sullivan (UEA)  http://www.uea.ac.uk/~e680/energy/Old_modules/env2e02/individual_reports/Group_d/solar.pdf

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Be on your Medmerry way

The recently-finished Medmerry managed realignment scheme, on the South Coast, is an excellent example of how society can work with nature for the benefit of all parties.

The £28m scheme involved building 7km of sea walls up to 2km inland and then  ‘making a hole’ in the existing sea wall, thus allowing the seawater to naturally come into the land. This will now protect over 300 homes, local caravan parks and businesses, a water treatment plant and a main road from a once-in-a-thousand year flood. This area was previously prone to flooding; therefore the avoided damage from this scheme will be valuable.

An important reason for the water being allowed to come inland was to create a 180Ha saltwater marshland, thus offsetting the habitats that were lost in the flood protection projects of larger cities such as Southampton and Portsmouth. The creation of this rare saltwater marsh will bring in numerous species. As well as the wildlife reserve, footpaths, cycle paths and bridleways will be opened. As a result, nature-based tourism in the area is hoped to increase, which will benefit the local economy.

By working with nature, rather than against it, the project has benefited both humans and the environment. The scheme has given a home, or resting spot, to wildlife, whilst providing recreational, protection, participation, and tourism benefits to the local community. It is an excellent example of how incorporating nature-based values into decision making can improve society as a whole.

This is the biggest scheme of its kind in the UK to date and it will be observed closely to see if it can be applied to other regions that are threatened by rising waters.

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