Archived press release

Government to launch sustainability strategy

5 March 2005

…But will it make a blind bit of difference?

The Government will launch its new Sustainable Development Strategy on Monday 7 March [1]. The strategy is intended to set out a joined-up government approach to the linked environmental, social and economic challenges faced by our society.

While it is crucial to have such a plan, serious questions remain about how effective the new strategy will be. Recent government decisions on emissions trading, road transport, aviation and budgetary measures cast doubt on government willingness to challenge the vested interests of dirty industry or move to progressive economic thinking. Whenever there is a policy choice, short-term economic growth is nearly always prioritised over long-term environmental protection - even when the social consequences might be negative too.

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director, Tony Juniper, said:

"The Government has said time and again that it supports sustainable development, but too often Ministerial interest goes little further than making speeches. The world is on the cusp of disastrous environmental change and we can't wait any longer for serious policies to tackle the challenges we face. Climate change is an enormous threat, It's happening now and we desperately need a strategy that navigates a realistic way forward. The last thing we need is more half-baked green policies that have no leverage over economic decisions or concrete means of enforcement."

Friends of the Earth's measures of success for the new strategy:

• The Prime Minister shows leadership. Mr Blair himself should launch the new strategy and publicly commit the whole government to its full implementation, including after the Election, (should Labour win).
• Reduces the impact of Government activities. Procurement by public bodies amounts to some £110 billion every year, and the public sector is responsible for between 5-6 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. The strategy should say how this vast spending can be harnessed for sustainability.
• Puts the strategy firmly at the heart of government. Ensure that all Departments put sustainability at the core of their decisions.
• Commits to quality economic development. The Government should say how it will move beyond GDP as the key measure of a successful economy, and replace it with a measurement that takes sustainability into account.
• Develops a sustainability indicator. This would enable us to gauge progress by comparing UK resource-use (such as minerals and paper) with those of other countries.
• Ensures the strategy addresses Britain's international impacts. This must be done by setting out UK sustainable development priorities for international bodies, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, and say how we will reduce the impacts of UK consumption on other countries.

Background

The Government launched a consultation in April last year following its own assessment [Achieving a Better Quality of Life - review of progress towards sustainable development - Government annual report 2003, March 2004 www.sustainable-development.gov.uk] of the success of the existing strategy agreed in 1999 [2], and the more thorough and challenging review of progress by government's Sustainable Development Commission [3].

Gaping holes in performance to date

These reports showed that while there has been some progress over the last five years - for example, in improving water and air quality - there are still gaping holes in the Government's performance.

There are significant disparities in who wins or loses from current development - the poorest get hit the hardest by environmental problems.

• A recent report for the Environment Agency found people living within 1 km of the most polluting industrial sites were 6 times more likely to be the most deprived compared to the least deprived. The most deprived wards are clearly those with the highest air pollution concentrations [4].
• In the UK inequalities between rich and poor people and between regions are increasing; concentrations of combined social and environmental disadvantage continue to cause blight;
• We work longer hours and with bigger income inequalities and wage gender gaps than any other country in Europe;
• We draw in large quantities of natural resources and manufactured goods and services from other parts of the world and our footprint thereby adds to the pressures on other countries resources and their environment. (If our patterns of consumption in the UK were repeated around the world, by 2050 we'd need an extra 8 planets);
• Our policies on trade, aid and investment can have an adverse impact on the prospects for sustainability on other parts of the world;
• The failure to meet their own modest targets notably on transport and waste. Britain has the most congested roads in Europe and traffic grows inexorably. It has one of the lowest recycling rates in Europe and household waste production is rising faster than economic growth.
• Even where the targets have been met there is little evidence that it as due to the Sustainable Development strategy or its indicators; "The government acts because it cares about health, education and crime, not because it thinks of the as components of sustainable development" [Levett-Therivel consultants report to the SDC]
• Attempts at greening government have largely stalled. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee called to account the Government's rhetoric about integrating sustainable development into the work of all departments saying sustainable development had a "limbo existence" in Whitehall [5].
• In March 2004, a House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee report on aviation concluded that: "If aviation emissions increase on the scale predicted by the DfT, the UK's 60% carbon emission reduction target which the Government set last year will become meaningless and unachievable."
• Attempts at ensuring key international commitments made at the Johannesburg Earth Summit are put into practice were this week called "a patchy and uninspiring picture of Government action". We hope that the new UK Sustainable Development Strategy will give renewed momentum to these commitments, and enshrine them in a clearer form against which performance can more readily be measured. House of commons environmental Audit Committee. The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002: a UK progress report.

Friends of the Earth's checklist for a Sustainable Development Strategy with Teeth- does it…

Aim for quality economic development:

• The strategy must redefine the economic component of sustainable development and cease trading economic growth against social and environmental factors (as happens now);
• Recognise that sustainability within economic policy is an opportunity for a different economy;
• Replace GDP as the key measure of a successful economy, and replace it with a measurement that takes sustainability into account;
• For significant progress to be made toward sustainable development, economic policy has to be firstly about quality and secondly about quantity. At present, it is only concerned with the latter.

The 1999 strategy contained positive rhetoric from the Prime Minster on this point:

"But focusing solely on economic growth risks ignoring the impact - both good and bad - on people and on the environment. Had we taken account of these links in our decision making, we might have reduced or avoided costs such as contaminated land or social exclusion. Now, as we approach the next century, there is a growing realisation that real progress cannot be measured by money alone… We must ensure that economic growth contributes to our quality of life, rather than degrading it".

However, in practice there is no strategy for quality growth - quantity still remains the priority. The December 2003 Aviation White Paper is a clear example of how the Government trades off environmental and social concerns for economic growth, rather than promoting economic activity which meets environmental and social goals. In particular it predicts its policies will lead to a tripling of aviation's carbon emissions, thus flying in the face of the officially stated policy to reduce emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.

2. Include a sustainable consumption and production indicator and target:

• Formulate an overall resource use indicator that compares UK use of resources, such as minerals and paper, with other countries. We advocate the Total Material Requirement indicator and set a target to reflect the need for reductions in overall resource impacts;
• Support the development of footprint indicators that clearly show what the impact of UK consumption is on other countries.

3. Broaden and strengthen the delivery of Environmental Justice:

• Propose new means to recognise and reduce disparities in environmental impacts in the UK - for example through better assessments of new policies and projects;
• Take into account the impact on future generations (e.g. through using precaution in new policies and laws for GM and chemicals);
• Consider the impact on people and resources across the world - through deeper cuts in carbon dioxide and funding to prevent climate change and new trade and aid policies;
• Ensure citizen's rights to information, to participate in decisions that affect them, and to have access to justice and redress.

4. Introduce measures to ensure that sustainability is at the heart of government practices and activities:

• Spending by public bodies (such as government departments, local authorities, schools and hospitals) is around £110 billion each year. This spending needs to be harnessed for sustainable development - for example through the purchase of locally produced food and the most energy efficient appliances.
• The public sector is responsible for around 5-5 per cent of UK carbon dioxide emissions.

5. Get the strategy into the heart of government - perhaps out of DEFRA - and include new tools for implementation:

• New tools are needed for linking the strategy to real decisions (such as the Treasury PSA targets) The consultation said that there is a need to "consider the room for including goals and targets" (2.6). Friends of the Earth says that if the strategy is to be influential, it is essential for goals and targets to be set, otherwise there is a danger that it will fall into the trap which the paper says it wants to avoid of "simply repackaging what we are already doing" (2.6).

6. Firm backing from the Prime Minister.

• If it is launched by Mr Blair, or at least a group of cabinet ministers, this will help indicate that sustainable development is seen to be at the heart of government, rather than at the fringes of DEFRA.

Notes

1. www.defra.gov.uk/environment/sustainable/

2 A better quality of life - a strategy for sustainable development for the United Kingdom

3. Shows promise. But must try harder - an assessment by the Sustainable Development Commission of the Government's reported progress on sustainable development over the last five years Tuesday 13th April, www.sd-commission.gov.uk

4. Environmental Quality and Social Deprivation R&D Technical Report E2-067/1/TR

5. 13^th report Session 2002/03 Greening government 2003 HMSO

5. Memorandum for the president - transmittal of the report on the US-UK energy dialogue July 30^th 2003

6. FT 14^th April EU move to win trade deal.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust