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MPs Climate report welcomed
13 September 2007
Friends of the Earth today's publication (Thursday) of `Climate Change; the citizens agenda' by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
This landmark report concludes that the Government is doing little of any substance to help individuals or communities to cut their carbon emissions and that as a result the public is feeling powerless to do their bit to combat climate change.
The report makes many highly valuable recommendations to Government - including the need to consider taxing energy inefficient consumer electronics and lighting and to require all new houses to be built to a `zero carbon' standard well before the present target of 2016. It also stresses that much more also needs to be done to improve the credibility of "green taxes" and that they should be used to invest in other carbon emission reducing measures.
The Committee wants more incentives to encourage individuals or communities to generate their own "green" power which could be fed into the national grid. They recommend that power companies should be required to pay more for energy which comes from renewable sources by offering attractive `feed-in tariffs' for household and community generation of renewable energy, similar to the system in Germany.
The report also highlights other important opportunities for helping people to reduce emissions. These include
A central Government strategy to help local authorities develop local greenhouse gas
reduction programmes.Building regulations to be made more demanding so that consideration must be given to incorporating renewable technologies, such as solar thermal systems, as part of planning applications.
A stamp duty rebate to home-buyers who improve the energy performance of their
property within one year of purchase.More informative energy billing within a year so that consumers are aware of how much energy they are using.
Much more ambitious Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets for energy suppliers.
Friends of the Earth's Senior New Economics Campaigner, Ed Matthew, said:
"This inspirational report from the EFRA Committee clearly demonstrates that there are simple and practical steps the Government can take to make it cheap and easy for people to reduce their emissions. Measures such as the introduction of feed-in tariffs and stamp duty rebates are the kind of policies which will provide significant incentives for action to tackle climate change. The Government could be accused of a lack of imagination and ambition for failing so dismally to help people cut emissions. If they ignore the findings or this report it is likely to lead to accusations of gross negligence."
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
