The UK's Ruling Conservatives Abandon Climate Change Leadership

Despite recent historic flooding in the UK, the British government's March 19 budget confirmed that it is all but abandoning efforts to combat climate change. The writing was on the wall with the appointment of Owen Paterson as environment secretary in 2012.

Owen Paterson

UK Conservatives sent a powerful message when Owen William Paterson was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2012. Despite his moderate climate change voting record, he is a climate change skeptic, who is resistant to the science. He ignored David MacKay's offer of a briefing on climate change science.

Paterson stated on BBC Radio 4's "Any Questions?" in June 2013 that "the temperature has not changed in the last 17 years ...". In addition to his resistance to climate science, Paterson is known as a strong supporter of fracking and GMOs.

Paterson is not climate friendly. Overall there has been a 41 percent redution for domestic climate change initiatives. As Bob Ward, policy director at the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute, put it: 'These shocking figures should worry everyone in the UK. Defra [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] is the lead government department for climate change adaptation and is primarily responsible for making the UK resilient to the impacts of global warming, such as increased flood risk.'

UK Budget

The reversal of the UK's ruling conservatives from champions of efforts to combat climate change to deniers is personified by Chancellor George Osborne. He once promised that his Treasury would be "at the heart of this historic fight against climate change", now he gives billions in tax concessions to the oil and gas industry, cuts the funds for onshore wind farms and strips the Green Investment Bank of the ability to borrow and lend.

On March 19, Osborne delivered the UK's 2014 budget which sidelined the government's energy and climate policies. His budget favors short term economic gain over long term benefits provided by curbing the emissions of manufacturers.

He froze the UK's top up carbon tax at £18 per tonne of carbon dioxide until the end of the decade. This may very well represent a lease on life for some old coal plants. Rather than make energy intensive industries pay the costs of two policies designed to support renewable energy generation Osborne provided the UK's dirtiest companies an additional compensation package worth £3 billion (this package is in addition to existing packages which amount to a total of £7 billion).

Mr Osborne has made himself clear with the comment that he wanted to squeeze “every drop of oil we can” from the North Sea. 

There was no mention of low carbon infrastructure projects like those in renewable energy. This comes on the heals of the cancellation of a number of high profile renewable energy projects in recent months. While Osborne did mention the continued development of renewable energy, he did so alongside expanded shale gas development.

Osborne does not appear to be listening to David Cameron who said climate change is “one of the most serious threats that this country and this world faces.” The Prime Minister told parliament that he "very much suspected" the floods were due to climate change, and that the UK could expect more of the same in coming years. Rather than addressing the problem of climate change through mitigation strategies, Osborne is spending £140 million on adaptation in the form of flood repairs and maintaining existing flood defenses. 

The new budget sends a message to voters and the rest of the world that the government of the UK has disengaged from its efforts to combat climate change. Instead of the greenest government ever in the UK we are seeing the same kind of myopic policy positions that created the climate crisis in the first place. While the current Conservative government in the UK warrants criticism, they are preparing for the next election cycle by pandering to the popular will.

British citizens, like so many others around the world still do not understand that focusing only on short term economic benefits imperils their own well being and condemns future generations.

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Report Urges Canada's Federal Conservatives to Regulate Oil and Gas Sector to Meet GHG Targets

The Pembina Institute is calling for Canada's ruling Conservatives to regulate the oil and gas industry so that the country can meet its greenhouse gases (GHGs) targets. According to a Tuesday April 2, 2013, report from the non-profit environmental group significant GHG reductions from the oil and gas sector are necessary if Canada is to meet its emissions commitments.

As it stands at present Canada is far from being able to meet its 2020 GHG targets which stipulate a 17 percent reduction from a 2005 baseline (equivalent to 113 million tonnes). In 2012, Environment Canada indicated that the country was not on track to meet its GHG targets.

“Canada is nowhere near getting on track to hit its target, so getting this right is a make-or-break moment for Canada’s climate credibility,” Clare Demerse, director of federal policy at the Pembina Institute, told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

As noted in the report, the oil and gas sector accounts for about 22 percent of national emissions. The Pembina Institute estimates the oil and gas sector will need to cut its emissions by 86 million tonnes, or 42 per cent, to a total of 118 million tonnes in 2020.

The Pembina Institute is a stalwart advocate of economy-wide carbon pricing, through a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system as the best way of reducing GHGs. However this approach was rejected by the federal Conservatives.

The Pembina Institute recommends setting the price for investing in a technology fund as an alternative to reducing emissions or buying offset credits at a minimum of $100 per tonne, with $150 per tonne being more likely to help Canada meet its 2020 targets.

The federal government is taking a sector-by-sector approach to regulating GHG emissions and plans to unveil its new rules for the oil and gas sector by the middle of this year.

"Our starting point is that strong regulations provide clear benefits to Canadians and can help Canada play a responsible part in the global effort to tackle climate change." The Pembina Institute said. "We also believe that strong regulations are in the best interests of the oil and gas industry: ambitious and effective regulations will increase policy certainty for producers, spur innovation, and help provide social license to operate for a sector that faces growing public scrutiny. Improved environmental performance for the oilsands sector in particular would help the sector maintain access to markets that choose to adopt low-carbon fuel policies."

New regulations in the oil and gas sector could prevent Canada from missing its GHG targets, alternatively the Conservatives can cement their legacy as a recklessly anti-environment government and lose all credibility on climate change.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Canada is Increasingly One of the World's Worst GHG Emitters

Although Canada has a population of only 30 million people, it is one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters. Sadly, under the leadership of Stephen Harper's Conservative government this trend is only getting worse.

According to 2008 data collected by the CDIAC for the UN, Canada is the seventh largest emitter of GHGs in the world. The data only considers carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture, but not emissions from land use such as deforestation. (These numbers would be much worse if deforestation were included).

According to a World Resources Institute (WRI) list of countries ranked by greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions per capita, Canada has higher emissions per capita than the United States and far greater emissions per capita than China. Canada's emissions per capita data indicate that the country is the 12th largest emitter in the world.

Canada is a world leading emitter of GHG and a comparison of the 2008 and 2010 data indicate significant increases. The 2008 EPI ranked 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change. The 2008 EPI identifies broadly-accepted targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals. As a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results.

In 2010, the EPI ranked 163 countries on 25 performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national government scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy goals.

According to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) Canada ranks behind countries like Mexico and Romania.

In 2008 Canada ranked 12th with an EPI score of 86.6, in 2010 after three years under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, the countrys ranking fell to 46th and their EPI score fell to 66.4.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Canada Officially Withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol

Although it was widely expected, one day after the conclusion of COP 17 in Durban, Stephen Harper's Conservatives formally withdrew from the world's only climate change combating global treaty. December 12,2011 will be remebered as the day Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Accord. Environment Minister Peter Kent made the announcement that Canada would be the first nation to withdraw from the Accord.

At one point Canada claimed they were abandoning Kyoto because developed nations like China were not part of the agreement. Ironically, China indicated that is was open to discuss emissions reductions under Kytoto.

A spokesman for China's foreign ministry told reporters that the decision was "regrettable and flies in the face of the efforts of the international community." A spokesman for France's foreign ministry called the move "bad news for the fight against climate change."

The Green Party's Elizabeth May questioned the legality of the move and called the timing of the decision "perverse."

As reported in the Calgary Herald, the government of Alberta applauded the decision saying "Kyoto didn't work for Alberta, it didn't work for Canada without all the large emitters at the table."

This move was predictable given that Canada was not able to meet its emissions target due in large part to the emissions from the large scale exploitation of the tar sands, which now account for roughly seven per cent of Canada's total greenhouse gases.

Matt Horne, director of the climate change program at Pembina Institute said "I can't see it being anything but a big black eye for Canada," Horne said. As a result, he said, the current Conservative government now faces "radical and irresponsible" choices if it is to avoid the $14 billion in international penalties he said it must pay for failing to meet those targets as a signatory to the accord.

Like the Republicans in the US, Canadian Conservatives use misinformation and fearmongering to sell their irresponsible governance.

NDP environment critic Megan Leslie said the Canadian Environment Minister was not telling the truth when he warned of billions of dollars in international penalties. She said the decision to abandon Kyoto will have "long-term implications" on Canada's international reputation.

Greenpeace Canada spokesman Mike Hudema said in a written statement the Harper government "has imposed a death sentence on many of the world's most vulnerable populations by pulling out of Kyoto."

He said the move "destabilizes" the promise of future action on global warming. "This is a further signal that the Harper government is more concerned about protecting polluters than people."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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