Labour in York and the need for more action on Climate Change

If Labour want to play a more active role in tackling climate change in York the best thing they can do is to persuade their Labour government to ring-fence all revenue from carbon trading allowances and to invest that money in helping local authorities to create a low carbon economy because what we need in York are not talking shops but resources.

The transformation of this council continues apace, the ecoDepot, the renewable energy systems being introduced into our schools and libraries, the CO2 emission reduction of around 50% at Yearsley swimming pool, our soaring recycling figures, the plans for our new Hungate offices and the pool at Oaklands É the message is loud and clear, we are committed to action. What we need is money from central government.

Not government money, you understand, just getting our own money back would do it.

Some of the £10 million of land fill tax charges the government has trousered would be nice. Or the money taken from council housing. Or the money paid by householders in increased energy bills as part of the carbon trading allowance scheme to reduce emissions.

As things stand currently, the UK is set to fail to meet any of the targets it has set itself - on CO2 emissions, on renewable energy, and on reducing demand. The Labour government are mired in a complacency so deep we can barely see the tops of their heads. On current policies Britain will be lucky to generate 5% of its energy needs from renewables.by 2020. The government has signed up to 20% but we are 'leading the world' so that's OK.

Yesterday we heard the government's latest greenwashing wheeze, that they are planning to siphon up to £1bn a year from an agreed EU-wide pollution levy into general treasury funds instead of creating a clean technology fund.

This new scam will mean that a fresh chunk of all UK energy users' bills, including those of households in York, will go straight to the Treasury. As with the landfill tax, so the European Emissions Trading System is going to be used here as a general pot for Gordon Brown to do what he wants with. I have never been a huge fan of these emissions trading systems as they simply allow wealthy companies to carry on polluting but if there is a revenue stream to create a low carbon future then OK. Except its not OK because the Labour government is refusing to ring-fence ANY of the money. It is a disgrace.

Contrast this with other European nations. We have generate 5 times less electricity from wind power than Spain, 4 times less energy from photovoltaics than Holland, and less than _ of 1% of the PV power generated in Germany. On solar heating we barely generate half the figure generated in Switzerland, a nation with population 1/8 of the size of our own. On the percentage share of electricity consumption derived from renewable sources the UK comes 20th out of 25 nations across Europe.

If all houses in the UK were insulated as well as those in Sweden we could slash fuel bills in homes by 50%. Imagine the impact of spending the £1bn raised by the pollution levy on insulating homes across the UK. Imagine the impact on fuel poverty for the poor and the elderly.

Action does not come from more discussion, it comes from our government putting our money behind solving the challenges we face instead of sneaking it away in order to bail them out on ill-conceived foreign wars and banking fiascos.

What we need is a government that returns power and resources to local authorities to enable them to deliver. What we need is a government that invests in energy efficiency and renewable energy as is being done around the rest of Europe. A Prime Minister capable of behaving honourably on climate change by spending green taxes on tackling CO2 emissions wouldn't go amiss either.

Christian Vassie addressing Full Council, City of York Council, 24nd January 2008

Published and promoted by Christian Vassie, 10 Blake Court, Wheldrake, York YO19 6BT