Welsh Assembly Government must focus on climate change failure

The Welsh Assembly is failing to tackle the crises of climate change as greenhouse gas emissions remain far too high in Wales, claims a leading environmental organisation.

In its response to the Welsh Assembly Government's draft Environment Strategy, Friends of the Earth Cymru alleges that the gravity of the crises is underestimated and the policy response is totally inadequate. While welcoming aspects of the Strategy, the organisation states that climate change is the single overarching issue that has to be given priority as it will have a major impact on all our lives this century.

Friends of the Earth Cymru points to a number of recent scientific reports that show that the impacts of climate change are much worse than anticipated, with Arctic ice melting at an unprecedented rate and the large Siberian peat bog releasing the potent greenhouse gas methane as it thaws. This is cited as evidence of the climate reaching a 'trigger point' of irreversible change.

Friends of the Earth Cymru's Assembly Campaigner, Gordon James, said:

"The frightening prospect of the melting of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets, which is referred to in the Environment Strategy, is becoming more real and demands urgent remedial action worldwide. Unfortunately this is not happening and, in Wales, we find that the levels of climate changing gases remain far too high."

According to Friends of the Earth, official data shows that emissions of carbon dioxide, the main 'greenhouse gas' causing climate change, is higher now than in 1990, and continuing to rise, despite the UK setting a target of cutting emissions by 20 per cent between 1990 and 2010. And, although the level of the basket of six greenhouse gases is lower than in 1990, it is well adrift of the reduction required by government targets and the slight reduction in Wales is less than that achieved in England or Scotland.[1]

Gordon James continued:

"Some reductions in greenhouse gas emissions have been achieved coincidentally as a result of changes in industrial and agricultural policies, such as the closure of coal mines, the decline in manufacturing industry and a reduction in livestock numbers on farms. Overall the picture is poor and this is reflected in the fact that, since Labour came to power in 1997, emissions of carbon dioxide have risen by over five per cent.

"In Wales, the situation is worse than the UK average and, despite the rhetoric, the Assembly Government is failing badly on the main challenge of reducing carbon dioxide levels.

"One example of its poor response is the requirement for the Assembly Government, its agencies and the NHS in Wales to simply report annually on energy use. By comparison, the government in London has set a target of cutting energy use in its estates by 29 per cent by 2011. Despite our world leading remit to pioneer sustainable development, our government in Wales appears to be content to play second fiddle on some of these important issues."

Friends of the Earth Cymru is particularly critical of the Assembly Government's policy on energy efficiency, claiming that it amounts to little more than a reiteration of standard advice on energy saving that has, over the years, failed to cut energy demand. Other policy responses are also deemed to be hopelessly inadequate to meet the challenge of climate change.

Gordon James continued:

"While we acknowledge that welcome progress in being made in some areas, such as wind energy and methane capture at landfill sites, this is far too little and too often amounts to fiddling at the edges instead of attacking the main problem. This is well illustrated by its proposal to ensure that lighting for trunk roads employs renewable technologies to deliver at least 20% in energy saving. As worthy as this aim is, the real problem is the growing levels of traffic on the roads, and the greenhouse gases it produces, rather than the lighting on the sides.

"If greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced, policies such as the plan to build the Gwent Levels Motorway have to be ditched in favour of a comparable expenditure in public transport improvements, such as tramway and light railway systems, in south east Wales.

"Similarly, the Assembly Government must oppose the proposal to build LNG power stations at Milford Haven as these would waste three times as much energy as the Assembly's renewable energy target. They should only be supported if they are suitably sized and sited to allow the waste heat to be used in industrial locations, such as the nearby oil refineries.

"And while we back the Assembly Government's policy on wind energy, we are constantly having to argue the case for tidal lagoons in Swansea Bay and off the north Wales coast and are mystified by their negative attitude to this modern technology.

"Time and again there is a failure in the Assembly Government's policies to match the rhetoric on climate change with effective action and it is clear that the actions proposed in 'Environment Wales' will not succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the level required by national and internationally agreed targets."

Friends of the Earth Cymru makes a number of recommendations, in its consultation response, about what needs to be done to adequately cut greenhouse gas emissions in Wales.

The organisation is calling for clear and meaningful targets to be set for year-on-year reductions of carbon dioxide of at least three per cent a year.

It states that the impending crises of climate change demands a radical shift in thinking and policy making at the Assembly and that this requires the setting up of a cross-departmental Climate Change Unit that would ensure that the implications of climate change are given a high priority at all levels of policy making and operation.

It believes that a member of the cabinet should be allocated clear high-level responsibility for climate change issues that would include drafting and driving forward a programme of activities that would result in year-on-year reductions in carbon dioxide emissions with regular reports on progress being made to the Welsh Assembly.

There has to be, it states, a much better understanding, both within the Assembly and the country, of the gravity of the threat posed by climate change and of the many actions that can be taken to reduce the emissions that are causing it. It welcomes the proposal to raise awareness of the economic importance of energy and global warming but states that it should not be restricted to economic considerations only.

On energy policy, the organisation states that there needs to be nothing short of a revolution, comparable to the agricultural and industrial revolutions, in the production and use of energy if greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced on a sufficient scale. This would require the setting of challenging targets for improvements in energy efficiency and for the introduction of combined heat and power (CHP) systems, significant increases in the production of heat and electricity from renewable energy sources, the application of efficient coal technologies and the development of cleaner fuels such as bio-diesel and hydrogen.

On transport, it wants plans to build the Gwent Levels Motorway to be scrapped and replaced with a comparable expenditure in public transport improvements, such as tramway systems, throughout south east Wales. It wants to see a major shift in expenditure from road building to public transport and improvements in cycling and walking facilities and for the successful congestion charging programme in London to be replicated in cities and towns in Wales.

And considerable emphasis is attached to strengthening the planning policy process by adoption of an overarching policy statement on planning that would communicate the need for a step change in the way the planning system delivers the Welsh Assembly Government's climate change agenda.

Gordon James continued:

"The Environment Strategy must deliver environmental justice through meeting our needs - and keep the environment safe - now and in the future. It must also ensure that people have a right to live in a safe and healthy environment without having a negative impact on other people in the UK or elsewhere. This means wholesale change in the way we live, work and consume. It should also address the fact that it's the people with least power and money who are worst hit when the environment is damaged.

"Although the Environment Strategy focuses on a broad range of issues, we believe that climate change is the key one and should underpin the whole strategy. Producing this strategy presents the Welsh Assembly Government with an opportunity to improve its response to the most important issue of the age and we hope it has the courage to set in motion the radical changes that are required for Wales to meets its global commitment to significantly reduce its emission of greenhouse gases".

Notes

1. The 'Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2003', produced by the National Environmental Technology Centre for DEFRA, the Scottish Executive, The National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment (September 2005), details how carbon dioxide emissions in Wales have risen by 0.2 per cent since 1990 while emissions in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland declined by just 6.9 per cent, 7.7 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively. Whilst Wales has the poorest record, all these figures are disappointing as the UK should have achieved much greater reductions by now in order to meet the UK government's target of a 20% cut on 1990 levels by 2010. The Welsh Assembly Government's target of a 20% cut in carbon dioxide by 2020 will also be missed on current trends. Recent research by Friends of the Earth has revealed that UK carbon dioxide emissions continued to rise in 2004 and during the first six months of this year and are now estimated to be over 5% higher than when the Labour government came to power in 1997. The long-term UK target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050 is now regarded by some as being too low to be an adequate response to emerging scientific evidence.

Although emissions in Wales of the overall basket of six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride - were an estimated 3.6% lower in 2003 than they were in 1990, they are worryingly adrift of the target figure of a 12.5% reduction. They are also substantially less than that achieved by England (15.9%) and Scotland (10.1%).

It should be noted that much of the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases have been achieved coincidentally as a result of changes in industrial and agricultural practices rather than as a direct consequence of climate change policies. The decline in coal mining and manufacturing and the reduction in livestock numbers on farms have all had a significant impact. Methane emissions In Wales, for instance, declined by 34.5% during this period as a result of the decline of coal mining and the reduction of livestock numbers on farms, as well as the introduction of methane capture technologies on landfill sites. Sometimes, relatively simple measures have achieved substantial reductions in emissions of the greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide. Emissions of perfluorocarbons declined in Wales by 78% during this period because of improved control measures in the aluminium industry and, in England, nitrous oxide emissions fell by 40% as a result of the installation of abatement measures in an adipic acid plant. Achieving reductions in the emission of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is the main challenge and, in this, Wales is failing badly.