Oil price increases bolster demands for climate change action

Mike Childs

09 November 2010

Environmentalists, scientists and many good policy makers are well aware of the ever-diminishing time-frame to avert dangerous climate change. Yet we know that our warnings are not resulting in the speed of change that is necessary. Here are five other reasons why a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy is necessary.

1. Oil prices are rising - the International Energy Agency said today that oil prices will continue to rise, largely due to increased demand in China. Chris Huhne, Climate Change & Energy Minister, has said even a "moderate rise in oil and gas prices would leave us critically exposed."

2. New technologies - the IEA report suggests that China might win the race to develop the industries of the future. The UK has aspirations to create jobs and wealth from leading on electric cars and off-shore wind. If we are win this global race we need to speed up the development of these technologies.

3. Fuel poverty - in October government statisticians announced that there are four million people in the UK living in fuel poverty; struggling to pay their fuels bills or getting into debt. Increasing the energy efficiency of their homes is a smart investment to increase their resilience to soaring bills.

4. Health - At the end of October the charity Diabetes UK reported that 1 in 10 adults in the UK are now obese. Although obesity is the result of many factors, out of town shopping centres and a lack of safe cycling or walking routes are contributing factors. We need greater investments in walking, cycling and neighbourhood economies.

5. Fuel security - the UK used to produce most of its own energy but for the first time last winter we needed to import more gas than we were able to produce from the dwindling supplies in the North Sea. The outlook on global gas supplies is unclear as new technologies are opening up unconventional supplies of gas. A prudent course of action, for the sake of energy security, is to use less energy and make as much as possible from clear sources within the UK.

There is no need for politicians to be at all timid in driving a fast transition to a low-carbon economy. There are a lot of reasons for doing so and they will convince many of the public who are still, unfortunately, confused about climate change.