PRESS RELEASE
Issued by:
Councillor Gill Gardiner
Date of Issue: November 1st 2007
Contact numbers:
0151 625 2738; 07803 065578

As Wirral strives for Carbon neutrality
Government fails on climate change commitments

One year on from the publication of the Stern Report on the dangers posed by pollution leading to global climate change - Liberal Democrat Cabinet member for the Environment Councillor Gill Gardiner has called upon the Government to do more, saying,

“Last year the Stern Report highlighted the huge dangers we face if action is not taken to cut the pollution we are causing.

“One of the biggest pollutants, carbon dioxide, has a huge impact on our environment leading to serious problems like severe storms and water shortages and we are producing more and more of it all the time. The floods in July this year were a timely warning.

“The response to the Stern report by the government was at first positive. But ministers have failed to carry through any big policies needed to tackle climate change and global warming.  And in some areas they have gone into reverse.

“The situation however could have been much different. Mr Brown could have led the call for change to save the environment. His failure to do so will mean that areas such as Wirral are likely to suffer as the freak weather and damage caused by it this year becomes the norm in the future.

“The successful Liberal Democrat motion to full Council (attached) seeks carbon neutrality for the borough by 2050 through the implementation of a carbon emissions reduction programme. This Government needs to take climate change seriously by actions such as these rather than mere rhetoric. Many local authorities such as Wirral are taking the lead on climate change, it's about time the Government did the same.

“Since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, the government have watered down plans to generate more energy from clean, green sources. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to downgrade the importance of a top cabinet committee on the environment.

“Meanwhile Brown has seen a coalition of important green groups, which includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, pull out of the government's nuclear consultation, claiming that the ministers were distorting the evidence and that they are considering taking the Government to court again on the issue.

“And a decade under Brown as Chancellor saw the overall tax burden on pollution fall whilst that on incomes rose, making it cheaper to pollute.

“This is a sorry record on the environment from Labour. The Stern Report, praised by Mr Brown last year when it was published, is now gathering dust. The call for action is not being taken seriously by the Prime Minister or the Labour government.”

Full Council 29 October 2007

Notice of Motion - Liberal Democrat Group

Carbon Neutral Wirral

Council notes that the Earth's climate is continuing to change because of our use of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitting fuels.

Council notes that the UK is already committed to cutting its emissions of CO 2 by 60% by 2050 and that Wirral is also committed to a climate change strategy, the aims of which are as follows: -

and: “achieve a 20% reduction in Wirral Council's carbon emissions by 2010, starting with year on year reductions in emissions from council activities, and working with residents, communities and local businesses to achieve their own reductions.”
Council believes that as the rate and effects of global warming become more evident, there is a need to go further in combating the causes and consequences of climate change.

This Council therefore requests officers to investigate Wirral's joining the growing number of local authorities such as Birmingham and Chester who have committed to the CRed Carbon Reduction Project which offers the Council, businesses, schools, communities and individual citizens the opportunity to commit to greater levels of carbon reduction.

http://www.cred-uk.org/

This Council also seeks to achieve carbon neutrality for the borough by 2050 through the implementation of a carbon emissions reduction programme. Officers are requested to investigate such a programme, to include: -

1. New planning requirements to ensure that all new house building is carbon neutral in line with the Communities and Local Government's 2016 Commitment to building only zero carbon homes by 2016;
2. Working with business to ensure that wherever possible new buildings are carbon neutral;
3. Investigating the setting up of a Wirral carbon offset scheme through planning obligation to ensure that all new businesses which are unable to achieve carbon neutrality pay into a Wirral Carbon Offset fund which would be used to finance schemes to offset carbon emissions in the borough;
4. Council bodies to actively engage with local community groups and the council's partners to further their participation in climate change issues.

Whilst the Council would encourage all residents, business and communities to achieve carbon neutrality, Council requests Officers to investigate the possibility of making the Wirral Carbon Offset scheme open to individuals and organisations to offset unavoidable emissions, thereby helping to reduce Wirral's overall carbon footprint and report back to Cabinet within this municipal year.

Moved by: Councillor Sarah Quinn
Seconded by: Councillor Tom Harney

Background notes on Labour's recent record on the environment.

Watering down renewable energy targets

Gordon Brown's Government are backtracking on the target to generate a fifth of Britain 's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. In October 2006, David Miliband, the then Environment Secretary, told the House of Commons: "We are committed to generating 20 per cent. of our electricity supply from renewables by 2020." On October 23 rd 2007, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said on Newsnight that Britain would only aim to generate 10-15% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

This followed the leak of an internal government paper in August 2007 which conceded that Britain "has achieved little so far on renewables", and asked ministers to examine "what options there are for statistical interpretations of the target that would make it easier to achieve" (i.e. how the figures could be fiddled to make it look like the Government are doing better than they are).

Downgrading environmental issues in the Government
One of Gordon Brown's first acts as Prime Minister was to downgrade the key cabinet committee on the environment. The Ministerial Committee on Energy and the Environment was previously a full cabinet committee chaired by the Prime Minister but will now be a sub-committee chaired by the Chancellor. In addition a sub-committee which aimed to embed sustainable development in central government departments has been scrapped entirely.

Failure on green taxes
Green taxes as a proportion of the total tax burden have fallen from 9.6% to 7.4% since Labour came to power. Green taxes are at the lowest share of national income for a quarter of a century.

Efforts to cut carbon emissions inadequat
A report by the Cambridge Econometrics think-tank, published on August 24 th 2007, predicts that the UK will reduce emissions by only 15 per cent by 2020, rather than the target of 26 per cent.

An inadequate Climate Change Bill
In a report, published on 3 rd August 2007, the cross-party Draft Climate Change Bill Committee warned that the Government's proposals to tackle climate change need to be tougher and legally enforceable.

Attacked by own adviser
Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the Government's Sustainable Environment Commission, accused the Prime Minister of making 'soaring speeches' about global warming but failing to match his words with deeds.

'One out of six' from green groups
In September, the Green Standard - a report by nine leading environmental groups - looked at each party's environmental commitments and actions and gave Labour only one 'green light' out of six. The Liberal Democrats were rated highest, getting three 'green lights'.

Green groups accuse government of 'stitch up'
The Brown government has been accused of 'conducting a public relations stitch-up designed to deliver a preordained policy on new nuclear power' by Britain 's leading environmental groups. The coalition, which includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and Green Alliance, pulled out of the Government's nuclear consultation, claiming that the Government is distorting the evidence and that they are considering taking the Government to court again on the issue.

Watering down requirements for environmental reporting by business
Proposals to strengthen the environmental and social reporting requirements on businesses, to provide reliable information for ethical investors and consumers, were watered down last year after Gordon Brown's intervention.

Promise of "environmental jobs" disappeared
Gordon Brown failed to keep the promise he made at Labour's autumn 2006 conference to make an announcement on creating 100,000 new environmental jobs.