Hoggart went onto say: "At one point Mr Miliband said that if it were possible to end global warming by setting up a committee, it would have been done long ago. Instead, he has pinned his faith in several dozen committees. The Tories are, of course, now greener than the Greens. Their spokesman, Peter Ainsworth, said the Stern report put beyond doubt what the Conservatives had been saying for ages. This was greeted by Labour hoots, jeers and guffaws. So Mr Ainsworth did what Tories always do - attack Gordon Brown."
But seriously the City seem to have ignored Stern if trading in the last days is anything to go by - Shares in Drax, operator of coal-fired power stations and Britain's biggest producer of greenhouse gases, rose 1.6% , untroubled by the thought that those carbon credits it has been buying could soon become much more expensive.
Meanwhile EasyJet - the first activity that comes to mind when Gordon Brown speaks of a "cultural shift in the way we live" - stands at an all-time high. I fear the City have seen Blair's record on climate change and reacted accordingly - ie they don't fear any action anytime soon.
For more informed comment on Stern read the Monbiot article.
3 comments:
The new SPGB blog that comments on the Stern Report:
"Too late" to stop global catastrophe?
Some useful stuff in Darren's link above but a fundamental misunderstanding about the Green party - indeed a couple of lines are complete nonsense - eg "Most Greens believe that things could be put right with a change of government policy, which is exactly what Labour now proposes."
Suggest reading more at:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk
Some socialists have indeed taken Green issues to heart - but they are very absent from being central to economic policy - and without that being the case we cannot have social justice. We need for example a fundamental shift in our economic policies from Globalisation to Localisation. Green taxes are all very well but as you rightly point out are only a small - very small - part of the story. We also need the Green Party policy for tradable carbon quotas and an ever-decreasing "cap" on this country's emissions. Of course a Climate Change bill with strict annual targets would also provide a good "cap", but without the tradable carbon quotas the government would struggle to find ways to meet the targets.
We should also look closer at what is really going on re Stern - everyone is being very positive about Stern...even Monbiot doesn't criticise much. Yet the stabilisation target is 500 - 550 ppm CO2e - this virtually guarantees 2C plus temp rise which is thought to trigger many of the positive environmental feedbacks that will accelerate warming. Stern hasn't costed what it takes to stop climate change but the minimum price of attaining run away change. His proposals don't actually prevent many of the catastrophies he describes - they may lessen them somewhat which is worth doing but not prevent them happening.
See also an exciting new project - Green Left:
http://www.greenleft.org.uk
Just saw this - saying similar:
FREE MARKETS ‘DON’T CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE’
BUSINESSES CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN MEP TELLS OXFORD UNION
MARKET forces alone are unable to prevent devastating climate change, Green Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas will tell the Oxford Union tomorrow (Thursday, November 2nd).
Dr Lucas will argue that business has played a key role in causing climate change – and largely remains indifferent to it in the quest for
ever-increasing profits and growth.
“If corporations were people they’d be psychopaths, pursuing their own
self-interest at the expense of everyone else and society as a whole,” she will say.
“The very purpose of business is to maximise profits and growth – indeed
corporations are under a duty to put these interests, the perceived
interests of their shareholders, before any other considerations, even
halting a preventable and predictable global catastrophe.
“If we are to prevent the worst impacts of climate change we need to regulate business activities on a global scale – and force them to cut emissions and contribute to sustainable development wherever they operate.
The Green Party MEP for South-East England, a member of the European Parliament’s International Trade and Environment Committees, will join Tory frontbencher Alan Duncan MP, Shell Chief Executive James Smith and South African opposition leader Tony Leon MP in to debate whether business is the solution or the problem to tackling climate change.
She will argue, alongside Alan Duncan, that business is indeed part of the problem on the issue of climate change. James Smith, Tony Leon and Sir Stuart Hampson will argue the opposite: that they are the solution.
The Stern report has outlined the horrors we face if climate change is left unchecked, and begun to describe the scale of changes we would have to make to prevent them, Dr Lucas will tell the union.
“But Stern doesn’t go far enough – he talks about stabilising atmospheric CO2 at 550 parts per million when the reality is this is much too high a concentration to halt runaway climate change.
“If we are to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and do so in way which is globally fair and promotes sustainable development, we need to cut global CO2 emissions by as much as 90 per cent by 2030. That’s going to require different cultures, different economies, and different expectations: in short nothing less than a different way of life.
“Such a way of life must be based on putting the needs of individuals and
the environment over those of corporations and businesses – who have got us into this mess in the first place. The business-led model of society just isn’t up the challenge of climate change.”
“Properly regulated business could, I hope be part of the solution to
climate change. But business on its own, unregulated by government and unfettered by public concern, is very much at the heart of the problem.”
Environmental initiatives by businesses – such as the re-branding of BP with a sunflower logo not unlike that of the Green Party – tended to be marginal activities aimed principally at changing public opinion in order to ‘buy time’ to maximise the profitability of their core activities, she will add.
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