News from the EAC

The Environmental Audit Committee will hold a one-off oral evidence session with The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the subject of The Challenge of Climate Change. The meeting will be held on the 4th of December, 2.30pm at The Wilson Room, Portcullis House.

The first evidence session on 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review will be held on Tuesday the 4th of December in Committee Room 16 at 10.20. Friends of the Earth, WWF and the Green Alliance will all be attending.

Local warming

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is today launching an inquiry into climate change and local, regional and devolved government.

Organisations and members of the public are invited to comment on the following issues by Jan 3 2008. Get writing!

1. How can central government best support and encourage local authorities, regional government and devolved administrations to take action on mitigation and adaptation, and other climate change related areas like waste and transport? What funding, powers, and structures are required to improve joined up delivery of climate change policy at all levels of government?

2. Is there clarity about the role played by local authorities, regional governments and devolved administrations in tackling climate change? How can their actions be coordinated and monitored? How can the accountability and transparency of the response at a local level be improved? How effective has the Nottingham Declaration process been?

3. What, if anything, needs to be changed in the framework governing the actions of devolved administrations, regional government and local authorities? For example, does there need to be a more explicit reference to climate change in the local government performance framework and will the new performance indicators on climate change be enough to stimulate action?

4. To what extent should there be disaggregated targets for different levels of government? How should independent targets, for example Scotland will set its own emissions target for 2050 (80% reduction rather than UK target of 60%) and the Greater London Authority has committed itself to making a 60% cut by 2030, fit together with national carbon targets and budgets? How can Government monitoring and forecasting of emissions be improved so as to disaggregate emissions, and the impact of carbon reduction policies, in different regions and nations?

5. How advanced and co-ordinated are local, regional and national programmes of adaptation to climate change? What support is there for adaptation? How vulnerable to climate change are local authorities, regional government and devolved administrations?

6. How should the Committee on Climate Change reflect the interests and needs of the different levels of government across the UK?

7. What are the barriers to greater local or regional action? Do the different levels of government have sufficient powers to take action? What changes in policy are needed to support action at a local level? What policies are working well?

8. What impact will the new Planning Policy Statement on climate change have on emissions reductions and work on adaptation? How are the so called ‘Merton rules’ affected? How might other planning guidance be changed to reduce emissions?

9. Are local authorities meeting their duty to enforce building regulations in relation to environmental measures? Does the enforcement regime discourage non-compliance?

10. What good practice is there to be shared? How is best practice shared and does central government support for sharing best practice work? What role should UK Climate Impacts Programme, IDeA, Salix Finance, the Carbon Trust and Energy Savings Trust play in providing support?

News from the EAC

The Government Response to the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 2006-07: Beyond Stern: From the Climate Change Programme Review to the Draft Climate Change Bill was published as the Committee’s Ninth Special Report of Session 2006-07, HC 1110, at 11.00am on Tuesday 13 November 2007.

Are Biofuels Sustainable?

This is the second evidence session on Are biofuels sustainable, held on Tuesday 20 November, Grimond Room, Portcullis House.

Attendees:
Foley, Head of Sustainable Development and Chris Hewett, Policy Development Manager, Environment Agency

Marcus Yeo, Director of Resources & External Affairs and Jessica Magnus, EU Policy Adviser, The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
Peter Kendall, President & Guy Gagen, Head of Combinable Crops, National Farmers Union (NFU)Greg Archer, Director & Jessica Chalmers, Programme Manager, Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership
Professor Richard Bateman, Head of Policy, and Professor Roland Clift, Biosciences FederationDr Dominick Spracklen, Institute for Atmospheric Science, University of Leeds

Environmental Labelling
This is the first evidence session on Environmental Labelling, held on Wednesday 14 November 2007, Committee Room 20

Attendees:
2.30pmNational Union of Farmers for England and Wales (NFU)
3.10pmMarks and Spencer
3.50pmThe Carbon Trust

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Robotic goats and biofuel worries

Business

• Time to Get Tough - Terry MacAllistair writes about companies' CO2 emission disclosures, and why he thinks disclosure should be mandatory.
• IBM has started offering verification certificates to third parties who reduce their data centre energy use.
• Greenpeace has released a report on the impact of palm oil pantations in Indonesia which accuses a number of corporates including Nestle, Unilever, and P&G of irresponsible sourcing. I'm feeling slightly guilty about the kitkat bar on my desk, as they allege it has been produced using palm oil from uncertified sources. Supply chains, once again, are hitting the spotlight with a bang. Read the full report here.
• The NY Times includes a special section today on green business. Read more...
• E.ON launched its Carbon Footyprint campaign on Tuesday, which will encourage fans to make simple energy saving changes to help cut their own emissions. And yes, pledges, inevitably, mean prizes...

Politics

• An Environmental Audit Committee evidence session on the sustainability of Biofuels will be held on Tuesday. Attendees include: Biofuels Corporation, British Sugar, Renewable Energy Association, Environmental Industries Commission (run by a guy called Merlin!!!), The Energy Crops Company, Friends of the Earth and WWF.

Science

• The Telegraph reports on a proposal to increase sea alkalinity in order to boost its CO2 absorbing properties.

Education

• Living a paperless life? Well, you could be.. A light-hearted article from Micro Persuasion explains how.
• Treehugger has pushed the Hippo Works website into the limelight: a cartoon-based educational resource with a new section on climate change. Worth a look for teachers, parents, and anyone who still thinks lollipops and plimsols are cool.

And a crazy one to finish...

• Robotic Goats help the Japanese recycle...

Environmental Labelling

Having decided to make everyone's lives easier by condensing most things into one post, I've just tracked down something else to put in. Sorry!

The Environmental Audit Committee will be holding their first evidence session on Environmental Labelling on Wednesday, hearing from LEAF and Tesco. As ever, the hearing is public.