Be Seen Go Green

Green initiatives were on show in the emergency budget but took a back seat to some £11 billion of cuts and VAT rise to 20%.

Everyone in business, or in receipt of benefits, will see changes to their income as this budget is implemented over the coming months.

But, there was green news as Britain’s chancellor, George Osborne, reaffirmed his support to for a Green Investment Bank, but this was not much of a surprise as this policy had wide-spread political support before the election.

Mr Osborne, did however, use the occasion to again highlight the fact the bank will generate more money for investment into renewable and green technologies.

He said: “We will also take forward our plans to create a Green Investment Bank, bringing forward private investment in clean energy and green technologies.”

Towards the end of his speech, and just before he announced he was dropping plans to increase tax on cider, the chancellor did give us a glimpse of future green policies.

Mr Osborne has promised to look into the aviation tax system and keep a closer eye on oil prices.

He said: “We will explore changes to the aviation tax system, including switching from a per-passenger to a per-plane duty, and consult on major changes, that will help reduce our carbon emissions.

“We are examining the impact of sharp fluctuations in the price of oil on the public finances, to see if pump prices can be stabilised.”

Initial business backing has been positive for the green benefits with Climate Change Capital’s vice-chairman James Cameron, saying: “We warmly welcome today’s budget.

“It sets out an ambitious set of proposals for stimulating investment in the low carbon economy, with key policies including energy market reform, the creation of a Green Investment Bank and the introduction of a reformed upstream Climate Change Levy.

“Many of these proposals are subject to consultation, so we hope that this process helps to ensure that policies are able to deliver low carbon investment at the speed and scale required to tackle climate change, while also creating the industries and jobs of the future.”

Charities were less optimistic with the RSPB’s head of sustainable development, Martin Harper, warning against cuts.

He said: “We urge him Mr Osborne not to reduce the funding that underpins conservation in our countryside.

“We understand Defra has been asked to contribute to the reduction in the deficit with cuts of at least 25% to its budget over the next four years, but cutting conservation spend would be a false economy.

“Agri-environment funding helps farmers protect water supplies, carbon stores, wildlife and habitats while bringing European money into the British economy.

“The Higher Level Scheme in particular underpins efforts to halt the steep declines in our farmland birds and to improve some of our most important wildlife sites.

“All these things pay us back much more than we put in and their loss would be felt long, long after the budget deficit is an unpleasant memory.”

Source edienet: Luke Walsh

Around five per cent of electricity provided to National Grid on Monday (6th Spetember 2010) came from wind farms

A skip firm has been banned from moving waste after flouting waste laws, the Environment Agency said today (August 19).

Easy Skips (NE) has banned from transporting any more rubbish, after its waste carriers licence was taken away.

Its permit to run a waste transfer station in Hartlepool has also been taken away and the company must clear all the rubbish from the site.

The Environment Agency has also told the company it has just two months to remove all waste from the site.

The decision comes after the firm was convicted in November 2007 of illegally depositing and keeping waste on its site, at Casebourne Road in the town, without a permit.

The company was sentenced in August 2009 – after an investigation to confiscate any profits it made from the crimes – when company directors Kevin Brough and Andrew Benson were ordered to hand over £234,393.

At the time, this was the second-highest Proceeds Of Crime award ever obtained by the Environment Agency.

Easy Skips (NE) was given the opportunity to explain how it would comply with waste laws in the future, but it failed to do so said a spokesman for the Environment Agency.

Environment Agency north east environment manager, Julian Carrington, said: “Over many months Easy Skips (NE) has been collecting waste from people and dumping it at its two sites, transforming them into unsightly mountains of rubbish.

“By revoking Easy Skips waste carriers licence and its permit, we have made it illegal for the company to continue operating in the waste industry.”

Business suppliers Office Depot plan to ‘buy green, be green and sell green’ as it unveils its latest sustainability report.

The business, which won the Best Green Retail Initiative edie’s 2009 Award’s for Environmental Excellence, has cut electricity use and waste spending across the board.

The report states that in 2009 Office Depot, which was founded in the US and now operates around the world, lowered its waste expenditures by around $1million.

During the same period it also reduced electricity usage and expenses as well as its overall carbon footprint by 11%.

It also helped customers recycle 73% more material than last year and, for the first time, the Office Depot report has included 2012 goals to increasingly ‘buy green, be green and sell green’.

The report, which has been independently reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is the fourth to be published by the firm.

“Our goal is that each one of Office Depot’s 41,000 associates around the globe exemplifies our commitment to corporate citizenship,” said Steve Odland, chairman and chief executive of Office Depot.

“We are proud to highlight some of the real life stories behind our accomplishments … since it is each associate’s individual contribution that brings our Corporate Citizenship efforts to life.”

The 2010 report’s theme is ‘We All Contribute’ and the document features numerous Office Depot associates from around the globe who have helped Office Depot Take Care of Business, People and the Planet.

Coalition of insurance firms issue statement urging governments to support public-private initiatives designed to accelerate rollout of climate-related insurance policies

Over 100 of the world’s leading insurance companies joined forces yesterday to urge world leaders to draw on the industry’s expertise to shape climate adaptation policies for developing countries being worked on as part of the UN’s climate change negotiations.

The Prince of Wales’s ClimateWise insurance industry group, the Geneva Association think tank, UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, which together represent the world’s leading insurance and risk management firms, co-ordinated the joint statement calling on governments to better support proven insurance mechanisms for tackling climate change risks.

The four-page statement, which was released on the eve of the British government’s Capital Markets Climate Initiative conference in London, argues that public-private initiatives would allow insurers to extend climate-related policies to developing economies that would help them to manage the risks posed by extreme weather events.

Specifically it calls on governments to formally acknowledge the role of the insurance industry in the on-going UN climate change negotiations and deliver funding and regulatory frameworks that enable the wider rollout of climate-related insurance products.

Andrew Torrance, chairman of ClimateWise and chief executive of Allianz Insurance, said that it was in governments’ own interests to utilise the risk management skills found in the insurance industry.

“With climatic disasters inflicting more and more damage, the increasing reliance of governments on foreign aid alone is unsustainable,” he said. “As the global climate continues to warm, we have to find new ways to protect people and economies from the impacts of extreme weather, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Insurers have much to offer, but this potential can only be leveraged through a partnership approach with governments.”

His comments were echoed by Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, who urged governments to enter into partnership with the industry in order to support wider trials of micro insurance and climate insurance schemes.

“The insurance industry is making it clear: it has the expertise and the creative solutions to assist vulnerable countries and communities manage the risks of climate change,” he said. “But it is a partnership that works both ways. Governments need to act on this opportunity and harness this reservoir of risk assessment skills.”

A survey of UK businesses and other organisations carried out for Defra by Ipsos MORI has found companies are not prepared for the impacts of climate change.

Three quarters of the businesses surveyed were concerned about the effects of climate change on the UK and one in three (31%) had been significantly affected in the last three years by extreme weather such as flooding and drought.

However, less than a quarter (23%) had actually started to do something about the risks and opportunities that climate change poses.

The survey also shows that businesses generally perceive a changing climate to be a threat rather than an opportunity.

Speak at the Met Office in Exeter on August 4 environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, said: “We know that some level of change is now unavoidable and it is the responsibility of us all to think about what a changing climate will mean for our health, our businesses and our way of life.

“By planning for the adaptation we need now we can ensure that the UK is best placed to meet the challenges of climate change head-on.

“A warmer climate will bring both opportunities and challenges for businesses of all sizes.

“I want to ensure that UK businesses are well placed to take advantage of the new opportunities that arise as well as ensuring they are ready for the difficulties that higher temperatures and more adverse weather could mean for their staff and working practices.”

Chief scientist of the Met Office, Julia Slingo, added: “I am delighted the Secretary of State has chosen to visit the Met Office to highlight the need for business to plan for climate change and hear about the important work we do.

“The Met Office occupies a unique position in being able to advise both the Government and business on the risks associated with hazardous weather in the short term, and the threats, and indeed opportunities, over the coming decades as our climate changes.”

A Bedfordshire businessman has been forced to pay almost £6,500 in fines and court costs after illegally burning waste on his farm.

Anthony West, who runs a marquee business, pleaded guilty to charges against him which included failing to adequately treat and dispose of controlled waste, which could cause significant damage to both the environment and humans.

Giving evidence at Bedford Magistrates’ Court last Tuesday (September 21), the Environment Agency’s (EA) Sarah Nicholson told the court West first came to the attention of authorities in December last year, following reports of burning at his farm.

At that time EA officers found plastic soil pipe and adhesive tube being burned with wood and tree loppings and advised West of the dangers and criminal repercussions of burning plastics.

Following further reports of fires, EA officers turned to West’s farm nine days later and discovered two fires – both of which contained illegal materials.

“There was a distinct smell of burning plastic or rubber in the air,” said Mrs Nicholson.

“The larger of the two fires was about five by six metres and one metre high at the centre, the main bulk of which appeared to be rolls of thin foam-backed synthetic carpet.”

When questioned about the fire West claimed the illegal materials had been included by accident, after he had buried them under other waste which he intended to burn.

Further claims that he had disposed of surplus carpet from his marquee business at a legitimate waste site were also disproved.

Speaking after the hearing, EA officer Jeremy Hay said: “Emissions from fires such as these are likely to include toxic substances such as hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.

“Had West listened to our advice nine days previously he could have avoided being convicted and fined.

“However, we will always endeavour to prosecute those who flagrantly breach environmental legislation – it is there to protect our environment.”

The UK’s leading supermarkets have once again missed a voluntary goal to halve the number of single use carrier bags handed out, despite cutting usage since last year, new figures have shown.

The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) confirmed today that the total number of carrier bags issued by the UK’s leading supermarkets has fallen 41 per cent since figures were first recorded in 2006.

Moreover, the number of “single-use” carrier bags issued has fallen 43 per cent compared to 2006, representing a reduction of 4.6 billion single-use bags a year.

However, the figures suggest the supermarkets have for the second time fallen short of a voluntary target agreed with the government in 2008 to cut the number of single-use bags given to customers by 50 per cent by spring 2009 compared to a 2006 baseline.

Last year, supermarkets claimed to have “all but” hit the 50 per cent target, citing figures for the month of May showing that they had reduced the number of single use bags distributed by 48 per cent.

The performance drew plaudits from then Environment Secretary Hilary Benn who hailed it as evidence that the government’s voluntary approach to cutting plastic bag use was working.

But this year’s figures for May, which cover Asda, Cooperative Group, M& S, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose, suggest that if anything the supermarkets’ performance is worsening.

WRAP reported that they had reduced the number of single use carrier bags given out by only 46 per cent compared to the 2006 base line, leaving them well short of the 50 per cent target.

British Retail Consortium director Stephen Robertson insisted that the supermarkets had done a good job, arguing that rising sales had made it harder for them to meet the target.

“This is a tremendous achievement by supermarkets, customers and staff, especially as between 2006 and 2009 the amount of goods sold by participating retailers grew by over six per cent,” he said. “The reduction in bag use is great news, but it’s the halving of the total weight of single-use carrier bags which shows retailers really scoring on the crucial issue of reducing environmental impact.”

However, the latest figures are likely to once again fuel calls for the government to introduce legislation to curb plastic bag use.