Archived press release

Tory Quality of Life Report - lessons for Northern Ireland

13 September 2007

The Northern Ireland Executive should closely examine the Conservative Party's Quality of Life Report, Friends of the Earth said today. The environmental campaign group congratulated John Gummer and Zac Goldsmith on the review, which it said provided a blueprint for a greener future.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland director, John Woods said:

"This is an enormously important report with many innovative and significant proposals that we wholeheartedly support. As the Executive considers the UK Climate Change Bill today, it would do well to follow the Torys' thinking and ensure that Northern Ireland establishes legally binding targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

"There is a grave danger that Ministers will try to avoid cutting carbon emissions for fear of stalling economic growth. The Conservatives recognise that economic progress depends on moving swiftly to a low carbon economy and the Climate Change Bill is a crucial driver in ensuring we remain competitive."

Friends of the Earth is urging David Cameron to adopt the Quality of Life recommendations as official party policy.

Positive proposals within the Quality of Life report include:

• Moral imperative for developed countries to remain focused on ensuring that global temperatures rise no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (p. 366/367). This means the UK must plan for an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050 (p. 370) and include annual milestones in the Climate Change Bill (p. 372); and include Britain's share of international aviation and shipping emissions in its Climate Change Bill (p. 370).
• Moving to a low carbon economy is an overriding aim of any responsible government (p. 264) and is in Britain's national interest (p. 380).
• Establish sharply decreasing targets to help towards 2050 target (p. 269)
• Moratorium on airport expansion (p. 344).
• Redefining the measure of UK's success away from simply measuring GDP and towards a triad of high level indicators capturing economic well-being, societal well-being and environmental well-being (p. 52).
• Maintain diversity of retailer outlets (p. 156) through planning policy (p. 180).
• A strengthened legally binding code of practice on supermarkets (p. 182) and keeping and improving the needs test to control out of town shopping (p. 184)
• Verification and certification on bio-fuels, including full life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gases (p. 187) and use of Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to move from volume based approach to quality based approach (p. 336).
• Car efficiency targets of 120g CO2 per kilometre by 2012, 80-100g by 2020 through the EU (p. 331).
• Joint implementation measures and Clean Development Mechanisms (carbon trading) should not be used as a way of avoiding domestic reductions in carbon dioxide (p. 268).
• A mandatory code for sustainable homes (p. 281) plus energy performance certificates requiring improvements by landlords (p. 71) and home owners when major changes are made to a house (p. 68).
• Financial incentives (e.g. council tax rebates) plus low cost capital to help home-owners improve energy efficiency (p. 277/278) and renewable heat (p. 289); and reduced stamp duty for energy efficient homes (p. 72).
• Feed-in tariffs (a fixed price for selling electricity to the grid) for small-scale low carbon technologies (p. 283).
• Balance of transport funding weighed towards reducing carbon intensity (p. 306).
• Purchase tax on cars according to CO2 output (p. 332).
• Amend VED rates to drive uptake of more efficient cars in used cars market.
• Demand management for aviation (p. 341), including reformed and annual increases in air passenger duty (p. 341) and VAT on domestic flights (p. 342)
• Decouple profits of energy companies from sales volumes (p. 359).
• Consider developing countries export led agricultural model (p. 159).
• Government bodies should report on carbon footprint and public building should pioneer in energy efficiency, micro-generation and community scale technologies (p. 78).
• No tax-payers/government funding for nuclear fission, risks and costs of nuclear borne by the private sector (p. 287).
• Power station waste heat levy (p. 288).
• No new electric air conditioning and refrigeration in commercial buildings (p. 289).
• No new coal stations after 2020 without carbon capture & storage or for existing stations after 2025 (p. 290).
• Employer parking spaces tax (p. 303)
• The option to reject a proposal at a public inquiry (p. 102)
• Set County and Unitary Authority targets for carbon reduction (p. 89)
• Review how WTO rules bear on climate change (p. 399)
• Legislation to ensure only legal and sustainable timber products are sold in UK (p. 401)
• Auctioning of 100 per cent of permits under ETS to utility sector (p. 403) and aviation (p. 405)
• Product policy that today's "best standard" should be a minimum requirement within an agreed timeframe (p. 408)
• Focus on zero waste and emphasis on its benefits for business (p. 246).
• Extending producer responsibility to incorporate all waste streams (p.250)
• Sectoral targets for resource use (p. 250).
• Product levies to encourage re-use (p. 250).
• Public procurement strategies for all Government Departments, agencies and local authorities. (p. 252)
• Bans on the land-filling (p. 257) of recyclable and compostable materials

Friends of the Earth will study the document further and make recommendations to the Conservative Party as it develops its manifesto.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust