Unwanted presents, the year of water, & the cap and trade or tax: 05/01/10

Free energy efficient light bulbs for Npower customers

Along with the socks, handkerchiefs and jumpers, Npower customers unexpectedly received twelve million free energy efficient light bulbs this Christmas. They were sent out in a pathetically ill-advised attempt by the company to meet emission targets.

Unwanted presents

The fact that the company was able to do this is due to the weakness of the enforcement regime. Energy companies do not have to report on actual carbon savings achieved by their activities only the potential savings that could be realised. Npower will be gleefully reporting the amount of savings that their bulbs could have achieved despite the fact that many will have been put straight in the bin.

This ‘potential’ savings measurement is a favourite trick of many government funded initiatives. For instance, the Carbon Trust reports on the savings that would be achieved if all their recommendations to companies were implemented rather than looking at what really happened. This false accounting needs to be stopped. Until it is, false claims will be the norm and investment will not be made in activities that make a real difference.

2010 the year of water

If 2009 was the year of carbon then I am fairly sure 2010 will be the year of water. As our climate alters, water will be one of the first indicators of change. This change will be seen in many ways. We are likely to be confronted by more floods such as those that hit Cumbria. This flood risk will place greater pressure on local authorities to introduce climate adaptation programmes.

Water shortages will also be high on the agenda, not just severe drought in Africa but also fresh water shortages caused by glacial retreat and changes in rainfall patterns. Water is already in short supply in the poorest communities of La Paz in Bolivia.

Sea level rise will cause governments' to make difficult decisions about protecting costal communities. A recent parliamentary commission in Australia stated that the government may have to force people to move away from coastal areas. The commission highlighted that urgent measures are needed to protect the Australian coast from the effects of expected sea level rises and that authorities should consider limiting the number of houses built next to the coast. About 80% of Australia's 21 million inhabitants live along the coastline.

I think that we will hear far more in the year about the acidification of the oceans. Ocean chemistry is changing because water absorbs extra CO2 from the air. Some believe this impact of rising CO2 levels could be as significant as climatic change because it affects marine life, affects coral, and will eventually impact upon the amount of fish in the sea. A billion people in the world depend on fish for their principal source of protein.

In whatever way water is in the news it will always be the most disadvantaged communities who will be least able to cope with the impact, causing much human suffering.

Cap and trade or tax

Over the past year I have watched with bemused fascination as the government has twisted itself in knots trying to get the legislation together that will enable the Carbon Reduction Commitment to be introduced. The CRC has provided a fascinating insight into how difficult it is to introduce the concept of cap and trade.

Having watched our Government struggle to make this work and also having seen the complexity of the Copenhagen negotiations, I am increasingly convinced that the only way we are going to move to a low carbon economy is to concentrate our efforts on getting an international tax and reward regime in place that makes fossil fuels more expensive than renewable energy. This is an argument that has long been made by James Hansen and hopefully more people will now side with his view following Copenhagen.

Although simpler than the cap-and-trade route, introducing a carbon tax will also be difficult due to the power of vested interests. This was brilliantly demonstrated in France when the French Constitution Council stopped the introduction of Nicholas Sarkozy’s proposed carbon tax because of the large number of exemptions negotiated by the country’s major polluters.