A report by a committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly said that recognizing the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable people and places was a matter of social justice, and should act as a driver for Northern Ireland to develop its own climate change implementation strategy.
Source: Inquiry into Climate Change, Second Report (Session 2009-10), Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for the Environment/TSO
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | Report part 3 | Committee press release
Date: 2009-Dec
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published its autumn 2009 performance report, showing progress in achieving its public service agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2009, Cm 7735, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs/TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
A paper examined environmental taxes and their use in the context of existing and forthcoming policy and legislation. It considered how green taxes were defined, the arguments for and against their use, and government policy on green taxation. It also looked at the new context for environmental taxation in terms of climate change targets and proposals for the future use of green taxes.
Source: The Future for Green Taxes, Research Paper 09/86, House of Commons Library
Links: HOC Library research paper
Date: 2009-Dec
A think-tank report said that urgent government action was required to ensure that the United Kingdom could compete in a low-carbon global economy. Any new strategy needed to prioritize existing work-based training.
Source: Jenny Bird and Kayte Lawton, The Future's Green: Jobs and the UK low-carbon transition, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | Summary | IPPR press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Nov
A think-tank report said that if carbon emissions had not been reduced by the end of the first carbon budget period in 2012, the government would need to face up to the prospect of introducing personal carbon trading as a 'plan B'.
Source: Jenny Bird and Matthew Lockwood, Plan B? The prospects for personal carbon trading, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Summary | IPPR press release
Date: 2009-Sep
A think-tank report said that the United Kingdom's ability to meet challenging emissions targets was being threatened by the failure to persuade mainstream consumers to adopt lower-carbon lifestyles.
Source: Reg Platt and Simon Retallack, Consumer Power: How the public thinks lower-carbon behaviour could be made mainstream, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release
Date: 2009-Sep
The government published a White Paper on its strategy for achieving the target reduction in carbon emissions of 34 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020. It also published a strategy on renewable energy, and detailed strategy documents for industry and transport. Domestic energy bills would need to rise by around £75 per year under the plans, but not until after 2015: there would also be a statutory 'social tariff' for low-income customers.
Source: The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan: National strategy for climate and energy, Department for Energy and Climate Change, TSO (0870 600 5522) | The UK Renewable Energy Strategy, Cm 7686, Department for Energy and Climate Change, TSO | The UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500) and Department for Energy and Climate Change | Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future, Cm 7682, Department for Transport, TSO
Links: White Paper | Renewable Energy Plan | Low-Carbon Industrial Strategy | Low-Carbon Transport Strategy | Hansard (1) | Hansard(2) | DECC press release | DBIS press release | DT press release | SDC press release | Ofgem press release | LGA press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Greenpeace press release | NEA press release | CFBT press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | BCC press release | ERA press release | Green Party press release | BBC report | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | New Start report (1) | New Start report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2) | Personnel Today report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Jul
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published its annual report for 2008-09, showing progress against public service agreement targets.
Source: Departmental Report 2009, Cm 7599, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jun
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs that called for stronger fiscal measures by the government to promote its environmental objectives.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2008: Green Fiscal Policy in a Recession – Government Response to the Committee's Third Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2008-09), HC 563, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined the role of taxation in promoting environmental policy goals.
Source: CIOT Green Tax Report, Chartered Institute of Taxation (020 7340 0569)
Links: Report | CIOT press release
Date: 2009-May
The government announced (alongside the 2009 Budget) legally binding 'carbon budgets' for the first three five-year periods (2008-2012, 2013-2017, and 2018-2022). It also announced a revised target to reduce emissions to at least 34 per cent below 1990 emissions by 2018-2022. It announced a 'scrappage' scheme under which motorists would be offered £2,000 towards a new car or van if they traded in their 10-year-old, or older, vehicle for scrap.
Source: Budget 2009: Building Britain's future, HC 407, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Building a Low Carbon Economy: Implementing the Climate Change Act 2008, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Budget Report | Carbon Reduction Report | Hansard | HMT press release | DECC press release | DBERR press release | DEFRA press release | SDC press release | Green Party press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Green Alliance press release | CfBT press release | RAC press release | CPRE press release | Forum for the Future press release | Consumer Focus press release | CIH press release | Oxfam press release | PWC press release | New Start report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report | FT report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report set out a plan designed to drive economic recovery, 'decarbonize' the economy, and promote business investment.
Source: Going the Distance: The low-carbon economy roadmap, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247) Links: Report | CBI press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Apr
A new book said that although the consequences of climate change were potentially catastrophic, for most policymakers and citizens it remained only a latent concern. In addition, the green movement was too flawed to make a real impact on how the economic and political challenges involved were overcome. The book proposed a set of political devices designed to ensure that these challenges were confronted by the political mainstream.
Source: Anthony Giddens, The Politics of Climate Change, Polity Press (01243 843291)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Apr
A trade union report said that the government should produce new guidance on adapting workplaces to deal with the impacts of climate change.
Source: Changing Work in a Changing Climate, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294) Links: Report | TUC press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report (by an official advisory body) called on the government to use the 2009 Budget to bring forward a 'green' recovery package and promote the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Source: Tim Jackson and Jonathon Porritt, A Sustainable New Deal: A stimulus package for economic, social and ecological recovery, Sustainable Development Commission (020 7944 4964)
Links: Report | SDC press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report (by an official advisory body) said that the pursuit of economic growth was one of the root causes of the global financial crisis, as well as contributing to a growing environmental crisis and undermining well-being. It called for a transition to a fair, sustainable, low-carbon economy.
Source: Tim Jackson, Prosperity Without Growth? The transition to a sustainable economy, Sustainable Development Commission (020 7944 4964)
Links: Report | Summary | SDC press release
Date: 2009-Mar
The government published a strategy designed to exploit the economic and industrial potential of low-carbon technologies and products.
Source: Low Carbon Industrial Strategy: A Vision, Department for Energy and Climate Change (0300 060 4000)
Links: Strategy | DECC press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Greenpeace press release | Green Party press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
A trade union report set out a strategy for exploiting the employment potential of the 'green economy'. It said that the green economy would be one of the biggest global growth sectors in the 21st century.
Source: Impetus Consulting Ltd, Unlocking Green Enterprise: A low-carbon strategy for the UK economy, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report criticized the low level of government spending on genuinely new and additional measures to benefit the environment.
Source: Andrew Simms, Victoria Johnson and Sargon Nissan, Green Stimulus or Simulus?, Greenpeace (020 7865 8100)
Links: Report | Greenpeace press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
An official 'capability review' concluded that 'significant progress' had been made in improving the management of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Source: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Progress and Next Steps, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs called for stronger fiscal measures by the government to promote its environmental objectives.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2008: Green Fiscal Policy in a Recession, Third Report (Session 2008-09), HC 202, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522) Links: Report | CfBT press release
Date: 2009-Mar
An article said that in order to escape the recurrent nightmare of climate change, policy required a radical revision of priorities.
Source: Matthew Lockwood and Andrew Pendleton, 'Escaping climate policy Groundhog Day', Public Policy Research, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Feb
A think-tank report examined the connexions between society, the economy, and the environment, and drew out their implications for social policy. Policy and practice needed to aim for sustainable social justice. To achieve this, the welfare system needed to be transformed. The role of government would remain central, but a new social settlement was needed that depended less on the market economy, and instead valued and nurtured two other economies – the resources of people and of the planet.
Source: Anna Coote and Jane Franklin, Green Well Fair: Three economies for social justice, New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Feb
The opposition Conservative Party published a plan designed to create a low-carbon economy. Proposals included: an 'electricity internet' allowing demand and supply to be intelligently managed; a system of feed-in tariffs, paying people who produced energy from renewable resources; a new national recharging network for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles; new low-carbon energy sources, such as biogas, methane from farm and food wastes; and low-carbon buildings, transport, and commerce, with a new entitlement for every home to be fitted with up to £6,500 of energy-efficient improvements.
Source: The Low Carbon Economy: Security, stability and green growth, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Plan | Summary | Conservative Party press release | ERA press release | CBI press release | NEA press release | Oxfam press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | FT report
Date: 2009-Jan
The opposition Conservative Party launched two reports outlining proposals to create green technology incubators across the country, and to establish the world's first trading market for environmental companies.
Source: Supporting Cleantech Enterprise in the UK: The role of incubators, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000) | Low Carbon Index ('LCI') Proposal, Conservative Party
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Conservative Party press release
Date: 2009-Jan
A report said that policies to deal with climate change and to reduce poverty were not in conflict: on the contrary, tackling climate change actually offered a 'huge opportunity' to boost the economy and tackle poverty at the same time. Poor housing and health, lack of home insurance, and less money to adapt would mean that deprived groups were worst hit by climate change.
Source: Victoria Johnson, Andrew Simms and Clare Cochrane, Tackling Climate Change, Reducing Poverty, Roundtable on Climate Change and Poverty in the UK, c/o New Economics Foundation (020 7820 6300)
Links: Report | NEF press release | Oxfam press release | CAP press release | RCN press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jan