Air quality: time to comply with the law

London MEP urges Government to commit to full compliance with air quality laws

18th June 2008

London MEP urges Government to commit to full compliance with air quality laws

Jean Lambert today backed Environmental Protection UK, and ten other leading environmental and health organisations, in calling on the UK Government to commit fully to complying with the new EU Directive on Air Quality. The London Green Party MEP has also written to the European Commission and to Hillary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, urging the UK Government to meet the new air quality standards as soon as possible.

Welcoming the new EU Directive, which came into force on 11 June 2008, Jean Lambert said:

"Air pollution is an 'invisible killer', being responsible for far more deaths than traffic accidents, but it receives only a fraction of the attention."

It is a particular cause for concern in London, with an estimated 1000 people dying prematurely every year and a further 1000 being admitted to hospital as a result of air pollution. The impacts of air pollution on human health range from minor respiratory complaints to reduced lung function, asthma, chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and reduced life expectancy. Air pollution in the EU, most notably from fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone, reduces life expectancy by an average of nine months.

The new EU Directive on Air Quality merges four existing EU Directives and a Council Decision into a single text to become Europe's main air quality legislation. It will modernise reporting and provide a framework to address breaches of air quality laws that have taken place since 2005. The Directive also introduces new targets and limit values for fine particles PM2.5, an important move as fine particles present the greatest risk to human health of all air pollutants.

Jean Lambert MEP continued:

"The UK Government has indicated that it will apply for an extension to the deadline on meeting the new air quality standards and this is simply unacceptable. People across the UK suffer from serious illnesses caused or aggravated by air pollution and this is particularly the case in London where air quality at several sites consistently fails to meet current basic EU standards.

"There is no place for a third runway at Heathrow airport, which would clearly exacerbate existing problems and hinder the UK's ability to meet these new targets. It is also essential that the Mayor protects the low emission zone and continues with the timetable of action for improving London's air quality. This involves rolling out the next stage of the Low Emission Zone in July, to include buses, coaches and lighter heavy goods vehicles, and to take in heavy vans and mini-buses from 2010. This plan should lead to a marked improvement in the capital's air quality.

"The EU has introduced these new rules to protect the health of citizens across Europe. There is no reason why the Government should endanger the health of UK residents by failing to meet these common air quality standards."

---

Nuclear Work Halted

French nuclear safety agency stops construction of 'flagship' nuclear reactor

The French nuclear safety agency, ASN, has ordered construction to be suspended on the new nuclear reactor being built in France - the same model that would most likely be built in the UK.

Flamanville's construction in northern France has run into the same kinds of problems plaguing the ongoing construction of the only other European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), Olkiluoto 3, in Finland.

The move by ASN follows the agency's discovery of chronic problems affecting the quality of construction work since building work commenced on Flamanville 3 in December 2007.

ASN's call to halt construction follows a series of letters from the agency to Flamanville's construction manager. In the letters, ASN inspectors highlighted a range of problems including non-conformities in the pinning of the steel framework of the concrete base slab, incorrectly positioned reinforcements, and inadequacy of technical inspections by both the construction companies and Electricité de France (EDF).

Inspectors also uncovered inconsistencies between the blueprint for reinforcement work and the plan for its practical implementation. The incorrect composition of concrete had been used, that may lead to cracks and rapid deterioration. Samples of concrete were also not collected properly, according to ASN.

Cracks have already been observed at part of the base slab beneath the reactor building. The supplier of the steel containment liner reportedly lacks the necessary qualifications. Fabrication of the liner was continuing despite quality failures demonstrating the lack of competence of the supplier. As a result, one-quarter of the welds of the steel liner of the reactor containment building were deficient.

Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, said: "The only two EPRs being built today are construction fiascos. The one in Finland is years behind schedule and billions over budget and only six months into the project in France building work has come screeching to a halt.

"This reactor design is fast becoming a by-word for incompetence, massive delays, spiralling costs and dodgy engineering. We only have a limited time and budget to stave off the most catastrophic effects of climate change and we should stop pouring money down the nuclear black hole."

Olkiluoto has been under construction for three years but has been blighted ever since the concrete was poured. Poor quality concrete, bad welds on the containment liner and low-quality reactor components are among its problems. The schedule for completion has been put back by more than two years and costs have nearly doubled to over 5 billion euros.

---

Burma Relief Effort to last Six Months

27th May 2008

In an announcement that underlines the extent of the human tragedy in Burma, the UN has committed itself to a relief effort that will last at least six months. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appealed for donations to assist victims of Myanmar's deadly Cyclone Nargis.

Full story on UN relief effort in Burma

---

Carbon Credit

27th May 2008

The cross-party Environmental Audit Committee has backed the idea of personal carbon rationing, in spite of the Government shelving the proposal. Under the scheme people would be given an annual carbon limit for fuel and energy use. Those wanting to consume more could exceed their limit by buying credits from those who use less.

Committee chair Tim Yeo admitted members of the public were likely to be opposed to the move, but urged the government to be "courageous". The report says:

"Persuading the public depends on perceptions of the government's own commitment to reducing emissions, and of the priority given to climate change in its own decision making. Further work is needed before personal carbon trading can be a viable policy option and this must be started urgently, and in earnest. In the meantime there is no barrier to the government developing and deploying the policies that will not only prepare the ground for personal carbon trading, but will ensure its effectiveness and acceptance once implemented." Yeo added:

"Under the personal carbon trading, someone who perhaps doesn't have an enormous house or swimming pool, someone who doesn't take several holidays in the Caribbean every year, will actually get a cash benefit if they keep a low carbon footprint."

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said there were problems with the plan:

"It's got potential but, in essence, it's ahead of its time, the cost of implementing it would be quite high, and there are a lot of practical problems to overcome."

Mr Benn said that the report found the cost of introducing the scheme would be between £700 million and £2 billion, and would cost £1bn-£2bn a year to run."

However many environmentalists including author George Monbiot have applauded the scheme:

"It's more progressive than taxation, it tends to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor; it's transparent; it's easy for everyone to understand, you all get the same carbon ration. It also contains an inbuilt incentive for people to think about their energy use and to think about how they are going to stay within their carbon ration."

In spite of the Committee's recommendation it is unlikely that the Government has the appetite for any unpopular measures after its recent hammering in the Crewe by-election. Other green proposals such as "pay-as-you-throw" for rubbish have been quietly put on the back burner, and carbon credits seem likely to suffer the same fate.

---

A Call to Arms

New study is an urgent call to arms on climate change, say Greens

17th May 2008

Report not only appears to confirm what we already know, but demands urgent policy frameworks to prevent the most damaging consequences of climate change - a global temperature rise of above 2oC.

Green Party Principal Speaker Dr Caroline Lucas MEP today urged world leaders to act on a decisive report that shows the extent to which climate change is already disrupting global ecosystems and the planet's wildlife, warning that the new figures should be taken on board by the international community as a call to arms on the environment.

The report, compiled by eminent independent climateologists and scientists from around the world and published in the science journal 'Nature', offers conclusive evidence that 90% of environmental damage and disruption around the world can be explained by rising temperatures, most likely driven by human activity.

Dr Lucas said:

"The international community has known for some time now that human-induced climate change is having adverse effects on the environment, and thus on all those who depend upon the environment for their survival. This report not only appears to confirm what we already know, but demands urgent policy frameworks to prevent the most damaging consequences of climate change - a global temperature rise of above 2oC.

"The report explicitly focuses on the devastating impact climate change is having on the world's ecosystems and wildlife, but the simultaneous effects of anthropocentric climate change on humanity are everywhere in evidence - fluctuating global weather patterns causing severe droughts and floods, unstable food production leading to a rise in food prices and a reduction in clean drinking water as global ice caps melt."

Dr. Lucas continued:

"Unlike the three grey political parties, the Green Party has the policies and ideas that propose serious solutions to climate change. Such policies would mean ensure that cutting emissions would bring immediate benefits in the shape of increased employment, decreased fuel poverty, and stronger communities - as well as demonstrating good faith with developing nations by adopting the 'Contraction and Convergence' model which places the greatest onus for reducing emissions on the developed nations which are most responsible for producing them."

---

How the Earth was Lost

Earth Impacts Linked to Human-Caused

Climate Change

15th May 2008

A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth's natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa.

Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science in New York and scientists at 10 other institutions have linked physical and biological impacts since 1970 with rises in temperatures during that period. The study, published in the journal Nature, concludes human-caused warming is resulting in a broad range of impacts across the globe.

"This is the first study to link global temperature data sets, climate model results, and observed changes in a broad range of physical and biological systems to show the link between humans, climate, and impacts," said Rosenzweig, lead author of the study.

Rosenzweig and colleagues also found the link between human-caused climate change and observed impacts on Earth holds true at the scale of individual continents, particularly in North America, Europe, and Asia.

To arrive at the link, the authors built and analyzed a database of more than 29,000 data series pertaining to observed impacts on Earth's natural systems. The data were collected from about 80 studies, each with at least 20 years of records between 1970 and 2004.

Observed impacts included changes to physical systems, such as glaciers shrinking, permafrost melting, and lakes and rivers warming. Biological systems also were impacted in a variety of ways, such as leaves unfolding and flowers blooming earlier in the spring, birds arriving earlier during migration periods, and plant and animal species moving toward Earth's poles and higher in elevation. In aquatic environments such as oceans, lakes, and rivers, plankton and fish are shifting from cold-adapted to warm-adapted communities.

The team conducted a "joint attribution" study. They showed that at the global scale, about 90 percent of observed changes in diverse physical and biological systems are consistent with warming. Other driving forces, such as land use change from forest to agriculture, were ruled out as having significant influence on the observed impacts.

Next, the scientists conducted statistical tests and found the spatial patterns of observed impacts closely match temperature trends across the globe, to a degree beyond what can be attributed to natural variability. The team concluded observed global-scale impacts are very likely because of human-caused warming.

"Humans are influencing climate through increasing greenhouse gas emissions," Rosenzweig said. "The warming is causing impacts on physical and biological systems that are now attributable at the global scale and in North America, Europe, and Asia."

On some continents, including Africa, South America, and Australia, documentation of observed changes in physical and biological systems is still sparse despite warming trends attributable to human causes. The authors concluded environmental systems on these continents need additional research, especially in tropical and subtropical areas where there is a lack of impact data and published studies.

---

Seven Billion Trees

14th May 2008

A grassroots campaign to plant trees around the globe has announced that it is raising its target from 1 billion trees to 7 billion trees, the United Nations announced today.
The campaign, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert II of Monaco, also announced today that in 18 months it has seen two billion trees planted, double its original target.

The campaign was launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in 2006 as a response to the threat of global warming.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said today: “Having exceeded every target that has been set for the campaign, we are now calling on individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to evolve this initiative on to a new and even higher level by the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen in late 2009.”

Tree planting remains one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. Trees and forests play a vital role in regulating the climate since they absorb carbon dioxide. Deforestation, in turn, accounts for over 20% of the carbon dioxide humans generate, rivaling the emissions from other sources.

Trees also play a crucial role in providing a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fibre, medicines and energy as well as soil fertility, water and biodiversity conservation.

In terms of geographic distribution, Africa is the leading region with over half of all tree plantings. Regional and national governments organized the most massive plantings, with Ethiopia leading the count at 700 million, followed by Turkey (400 million), Mexico (250 million), and Kenya (100 million).

The two billionth tree was put into the ground as part of an agroforestry project carried out by the UN World Food Programme (WFP). It has now planted 60 million trees in 35 countries to improve food security.

---

Making zero carbon

homes a reality

13th May 2008

A new report from the UK Green Building Council's Zero Carbon Task Group provides a definition of zero carbon that will make it clearer and easier for home builders to achieve aspirational green housing standards. Zero carbon means that net energy used in a home is zero. The report helps to explain what this will mean in practice for house builders, marking the first major step in establishing a clear path towards zero-carbon housing in the UK.
"Realising the government's target for all new homes to be built to zero-carbon standards by 2016 will be a challenge, but with the right regulatory and support framework in place, it is eminently achievable," said Simon McWhirter, manager of WWF-UK's One Planet Homes campaign, which aims to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts from the UK's housing stock.
"WWF-UK is optimistic that the findings from the Task Group will dispel confusion over the definition of zero carbon, investing more developers with the confidence to build to the very highest levels of sustainability. We hope this will help deliver practical zero-carbon homes well ahead of the 2016 deadlines," he added.
The report, The Definition of Zero Carbon, which will be presented to Ministers this week, will help inform the government's consultation on the definition of zero carbon later in the year.
It specifies that zero-carbon homes will not only have to meet very high standards of energy efficiency through the design of a building, but will have to ensure the remaining energy demand for the home is met from renewable sources. It strongly encourages micro-generation … technology such as wind turbines and solar panels fitted to the home. Developers, however, will be given some flexibility to provide energy from further afield if it is not practicable or is prohibitively expensive to generate renewable energy where the homes are built … but only if there is proof that the project is a genuine addition to the UK's provision of renewable energy.
Under a binding EU commitment, the UK must deliver 15% of its total energy supply from renewable sources by 2020 … meaning that some 40-45% of the UK's electricity supply must come from renewables by this date.
"If we are to meet this demanding target, it is essential that the ambitious programme for new housing to be zero-carbon acts as a driver to renewable energy generation," said Simon McWhirter.
To this end, he believes it is vitally important to maximise onsite energy generation: "Over-reliance on energy imported from offsite sources poses a risk that this zero-carbon homes policy will simply piggyback on existing renewable energy commitments."

---

Burma: UN's Deep Concern

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

13th May 2008

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today registered his “immense frustration” with the pace of relief efforts following the cyclone in Myanmar last week, and called on the Government to do everything it could to prevent the disaster from becoming even more serious.
“I want to register my deep concern – and immense frustration – at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis,” Mr. Ban said today, speaking at a press conference in New York. “Unless more aid gets into the country – very quickly – we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today’s crisis,” he added. “I therefore call, in the most strenuous terms, on the Government of Myanmar to put its people’s lives first. It must do all that it can to prevent the disaster from becoming even more serious.”

International relief agencies estimate that around 1.5 million people are at severe risk following Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar on 2 May, while the official death toll reported by the Government has reached almost 32,000, with over 34,000 others missing.

Last week the UN called on the Government to allow aid workers to enter the country more speedily and said that some international relief supplies were being held up at Myanmar’s main airport. Today, Mr. Ban said there were “encouraging signs” that the Government had “made some initial moves to ease access restrictions.” He said many aid airlifts had arrived over the weekend and today, but added that, “much more is needed.”

While the UN and international aid agencies were “well positioned” to help tackle the emergency, Mr. Ban said that staff on the ground “were grievously overstretched and the Government continues to deny visas to most foreign aid workers.”

The Secretary-General said that the UN has been able to reach less than a third of the people at risk – about 270,000 people. He said that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that the amount of food allowed into the country so far was less than one-tenth of what is needed, while rice stocks within Myanmar were close to exhaustion.

Mr. Ban said he had tried repeatedly over the weekend and last week to telephone Myanmar’s senior General Than Shwe, but had not been able to reach him, so he had delivered a second letter to him through diplomatic channels. The Secretary-General called on the Government to set up major logistics operations to deliver supplies to the most affected areas. He said that “this required the specialized expertise of the major international relief agencies. Myanmar cannot do it alone.”

On Friday, the UN launched a flash appeal asking for $187 to provide urgently needed relief though key UN and other aid agencies. Mr. Ban added that the UN was planning to set up a logistics base in the area, probably in Thailand, to make sure that aid would be “channelled into Myanmar in a systematic and orderly way.”

The UN has identified food, water purification supplies, sanitation facilities, shelter, fuel and essential medical supplies as crucial needs for Myanmar following the disaster. With heavy rain forecast for the near future, aid officials are concerned that exposed populations will face a worsening situation in the days to come.

Speaking about his appeal for a speedier response, Mr. Ban said, “I emphasize that this is not about politics. It is about saving people’s lives. There is absolutely no time to lose.”

The UN’s top relief official told Eco that reports from Myanmar indicate that people in the flooded Irrawaddy delta region, which was struck hardest by Cyclone Nargis, had now concentrated in towns and villages on higher ground.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said this would make it easier for agencies to deliver aid to large numbers of people, but that it also increased the risk of infectious disease.

Mr. Holmes said that an increasing number of flights delivering aid were now entering the country, and other relief had begun arriving by sea and land. He said that 34 new visas were now being granted for UN international relief workers, but he added that, while this was welcome, it was “clearly nothing like enough for the scale of the problem we’re trying to deal with.”

---

Green Grants Slashed

12th May 2008

Environmentalists have reacted with dismay to the news that household grants for people who want to fit solar panels or other green energy systems to their homes has halved after the low carbon buildings programme cut the maximum grant on offer from £7,500 to £2,500.

Britain already has a dismal record on renewable energy. An investigation by Eco has revealed that in 2007, 2,339 grants were made nationwide, compared with 5,104 the previous year.

Britain is the third worst performer in EU for producing energy from renewable sources - 2% of the UK's energy is produced in this way - and it has been told to raise its share to 15% by 2020. Germany has 200 times as many homes fitted with solar photovoltaic power.

The Renewable Energy Association, which says the programme is failing, has accused ministers of complacency. In its defence the government says uptake went up considerably last month after the need for planning permission was removed.

Critics of the government say that the low carbon buildings scheme has been confusing and stingy, and has provided little incentive for people to go green.

Last month the programme was extended by a year to April 2010 but the £2,500 cap remained.

Andrew Cooper, from the Renewable Energy Association, said: "Government has totally ignored the advice of the renewable energy industry and the blindingly obvious evidence of their own statistics - making a failing programme fail over a longer period is not a solution."

A spokesman for department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said the scheme now offered many more individuals the opportunity to apply for grants said:

"More and more people are applying, in fact last month we saw a total of 293 households successfully applying for a share of £313,000, the largest number since May last year. In total, 71 of these were applications for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on homes, which is around a 100% increase compared to last year's monthly average. We continue to monitor the take up of the scheme."

---

Turtle Traffic

Thailand's illegal turtle trade

---

Pole Position

Climate change:

Arctic impact accelerates

Friday 25th April 2008

A new study by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns that climate change is having a greater and faster impact on the Arctic than previously thought. The report released today shows that the melting of arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet is severely accelerated, prompting concerns that both may be close to their 'tipping point'; the point where, because of climate change, natural systems may experience sudden, rapid and irreversible change.
"When you look in detail at the science behind the recent Arctic changes it becomes painfully clear how our understanding of climate impacts lags behind the changes that we are already seeing in the Arctic," said report co-author and Senior Climate Change Adviser at WWF International's Arctic Programme, Dr Martin Sommerkorn.
"This is extremely dangerous, as some of these changes have the potential to substantially increase the warming of the Earth, beyond what models currently forecast," he added.
The new study found that change was occurring in all arctic systems, impacting on the atmosphere and oceans, sea ice and ice sheets, snow and permafrost, as well as species and populations, food webs, ecosystems and human societies.
According to last year's reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if the entire Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt, sea levels would rise 7.3m, making its status a global concern.
While it is currently impossible to accurately predict how much of the ice sheet will be melting, and over which time, the new report shows there has been a far greater loss of ice mass in the past few years, much more than had been predicted by scientific models.
Likewise, the loss of summer arctic sea ice has increased dramatically. In September 2007, the sea ice shrank to 39% below its 1979-2000 average, the lowest since satellite monitoring began in 1979 and also the lowest for the entire 20th century based on monitoring from ships and aircraft.
The Arctic is not only one of the places on earth most vulnerable to climate change, but also a place where vulnerability is of urgent global relevance. The release of greenhouse gases from its carbon sinks could further fuel global warming.
Emily Lewis-Brown, marine climate change officer at WWF-UK said: "We have already passed the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which is considered to be safe over the long term. It is imperative that we invest in our future by ensuring that global emissions peak by 2015 at the latest, and then fall steeply."
"The UK has a key role to play in demonstrating global leadership on this issue. WWF-UK calls on the government to introduce the Climate Change Bill with a commitment to reduce all UK linked emissions by at least 80% by 2050," she urged.

---

Porsche Show

                            

5th April 2008

Car manufacturer Porsche has formally launced a High court action against the London congestion charge.

In response to the news Friends of the Earth Executive Director Tony Juniper said:

"Porsche has clearly misunderstood public opinion, since the majority of Londoners support an increased congestion charge for the most polluting vehicles. People are recognising the urgency of cutting carbon dioxide emissions and the producers of gas-guzzling vehicles have got to face facts. It's high time Porsche stopped fighting popular initiatives and started manufacturing cleaner vehicles."

Porsche announced in February this year that it would file legal action to challenge the new London pollution charge. A High Court decision on whether to allow it to proceed with the case is expected next week. An independent poll published on 17 March 2008 shows that 61% of Londoners support the increase congestion charge for the most polluting vehicles. The increased London congestion charge for the most polluting vehicles was announced by the Mayor in February 2008.

---

Earth Hour is a

global success

---

             Greens call for Logging Action

 

5th April 2008

Green MEP to meet with EU Commissioner to crackdown on illegal logging and deforestation

Over-exploitation and illegal logging by the forestry sector has led to a dangerously unsustainable level of forest degradation and eradication.

A Green MEP is leading a delegation of European Parliamentarians to meet with the European Commissioner for the Environment today to discuss legislation to tackle illegal logging and deforestation.

Thirty-five fellow Members of the European Parliament signed up to a letter sent by Dr Caroline Lucas to several European Commissioners in February, welcoming the EU's proposed new 'forest package' and urging them to bring forward tough rules to prevent the sale of illegal and destructive timber on EU markets.

The Commission is currently preparing its proposals and Dr Lucas hopes that her meeting with Commissioner Dimas today, in the company of a cross-party cross-nationality group of other MEPs, will ensure that the terms of the package adequately protect forests and reward responsible forest owners and timber companies.

Dr Lucas, Green MEP for the South East, commented: "The European Commission' s progress on tackling deforestation up until now has been slow at best, so it is crucial that this new package of legislation signals a turning point at a time when the scale of the problem is becoming ever more serious.

"We must seize the opportunity to put in place measures which will be truly effective and ensure the EU leads the way in halting illegal logging and deforestation.

"Figures from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation show that forest loss has reached levels of 13 million hectares a year, and just last month the Brazilian government announced that deforestation in the Amazon is once again on the rise.

"If this current level of deforestation continues, we could lose up to half of the Amazonian rainforests by 2050 and possibly all of those in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea by 2015 to 2020.

She continued: "The environmental, social and economic impacts of this destruction are huge. Deforestation causes a loss in biodiversity and is responsible for one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Directly or indirectly, it threatens 90% of the world's 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty.

"Over-exploitation and illegal logging by the forestry sector, combined with the expansion of intensive agricultural practises to cultivate soybean and palm oil for external markets, has led to a dangerously unsustainable level of forest degradation and eradication.

"As a global consumer and trade partner, the EU must seriously consider the consequences of its trading policies and put in place tough legislation which promotes responsible forest management and prevents further deforestation." 

---

Taxpayers facing

nuclear missile

New nuclear power stations will not be built unless the government fixes the market price for dealing with waste, according to a nuclear industry expert today.

And rigging the price will, say Greenpeace, mean that taxpayers will have to subsidise new nuclear power stations.

The revelation comes as Gordon Brown is due to meet President Sarkozy of France to discuss nuclear power.

Writing in Nuclear Engineering International, Ian Jackson, who has worked in the industry for over 20 years, says that a “fully commercial price would make disposal far too expensive, killing the prospects of any new nuclear build programme in Britain”.

The government has said that decisions on building new nuclear reactors will be entirely up to the market, and that there will be no public hand-outs.

If companies building nuclear plants in the UK were charged the same rate for waste disposal as overseas utilities – which, commercially speaking, they should be – the costs would come to £201,000 per cubic metre of waste. This would amount to £8.2 billion for ten new reactors, or £820 million each. These costs - 40 per cent of the total construction costs – would scupper any plans for new nuclear reactors.

Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, said: “If nuclear power had to stand on its own two feet in a truly liberalised energy market, there’s no way anyone would be talking about building new reactors.

"Despite telling anyone who’d care to listen that new nuclear would be paid for by the industry and without subsidy, behind closed doors the government has cooked up a way to make nuclear liabilities artificially palatable. Ultimately, this means that the taxpayer is going to have to subsidise new nuclear power stations.

"The estimated costs of dealing with nuclear waste increase every single year. Including a so-called 'significant risk premium' is going to do next to nothing to cover these costs in the long-term. The risk here isn't being borne by the nuclear industry, it's being borne by the taxpayer.

“And while Gordon Brown is bending over backwards to foist new French nuclear power stations across the planet, he’s simultaneously stabbing renewable energy in the back. It’s political contortionism of the highest order.”

Ian Jackson joined the nuclear industry in 1986, working initially at the Atomic Energy research Establishment then later as a nuclear regulator. He is the author of Siting New Nuclear Power Stations: Availability and Options for Government published alongside the 2007 Energy White Paper.

Download Ian Jackson’s article in Nuclear Engineering International.

---

Oxford Green councillors delivering affordable, sustainable housing

28th March 2008

Oxford Green Party today launched an online film charting the success of Oxford Green Party councillors in delivering affordable housing in new developments for the area, renewable energy schemes, preserving public services and providing free insulation.

The short film explores how Oxford Green Party councillors took the initiative on Oxford council to have derelict and abandoned buildings demolished to free up space to build affordable housing, and increase the proportion of affordable housing in new developments from 20% to 50%. They also took the lead on ensuring that an £800 million health budget destined for a private health company stayed within the NHS.

From fighting to protect public services, to providing 1000 homes with free insulation in affordable, sustainable housing, Oxford Green Party show that Greens deliver sound, practical action that make a real difference. Oxford Green Group Deputy Leader Cllr Matt Sellwood said:

"Over the last four years, Green councillors have held the balance of power on the City Council. During that time we have pushed forward innovative plans for sustainable housing, renewable energy, and fuel poverty alleviation - and secured the funding to make them a reality. Across the country, Green councillors are doing the same - and where Greens are elected, people want more. We are clearly the progressive choice for the future."

---

Russia's Shame

Green Euro-MP urges Russian authorities to come clean over seal pup slaughter

6th March 2008

MEP speaks out as annual March season of newborn seal clubbing gets underway

South East MEP Caroline Lucas has called on the Russian authorities today to make public key figures on seal deaths that would expose the annual mass slaughter of newborn seal pups on Russia's White Sea coast.

In a letter to Ambassador Vladimir Shizov, the Russian representative to the European Union, Dr Lucas expressed disappointment that her request for statistics on the number of seal pups, in particular newborn seals, killed between 2005 and 2006 in the White Sea area had been ignored.

She has been driven to write directly to the Russian authorities following a lengthy period of inaction by the European Commission, which has so far failed to provide any information or exert the necessary pressure on Russia to come clean on the real figures.

Dr Lucas commented: "Sadly, after two years of correspondence with the Commission, we are no closer to obtaining information on the numbers of seals killed during the annual White Sea slaughter.

"Following my initial demands for information in 2006, I was informed by the Commission in 2007 that they had raised the issue with the Russian authorities - but a full year on, I have not yet received any of the relevant information.

"In writing directly to Ambassador Shizov, I hope to gain the information which would expose the extent of the slaughter, and enable us to initiate a much-needed campaign to prevent this cruel and unnecessary practice. And let's not forget, 'sealing' is intensely brutal - as many as 40 per cent of seals are skinned while they are still conscious."

She continued: "Furthermore, I call on the Commission to enforce an import ban on seal products, which would be entirely consistent with EU and world trade rules enshrined at the WTO, both of which allow exceptions to free trade on the grounds of 'public morality' - a concept understood to include concern over animal welfare issues.

"A ban on imports into the EU - the biggest market for seal fur - would bring us a significant step closer to ending the barbaric cull of hundreds of thousands of seals in Canada and Russia every year."

---

Nuclear Power -

virtually useless

6th March 2008

It has emerged that a nuclear power plant at Sellafield that was meant to produce 120 tonnes of fuel a a year, has barely produced 3 tonnes since it was built, and in some years produced nothing at all.

"Public Service Daily" has reported that the mixed oxide (Mox) facility at Sellafield in Cumbria opened six years ago with the aim of making fuel from recycled uranium and plutonium that could then be used in foreign power stations. In that time the most it could produce was 2.6 tonnes, energy minister Malcolm Wicks has revealed, and it has had to buy material from France and Belgium to meet customer demands.
The plant is run by the British Nuclear Group which said: "We had to overcome a number of technical issues and make engineering improvements to the plant as part of the normal commissioning process. We are awaiting suitable plant availability to demonstrate the benefits of these capacity enhancements. Throughput in 2007-08 was adversely affected by the extended outage for the fuel campaign change. We remain committed to meeting our customers' Mox fuel requirements."
Greenpeace expressed anger that the nuclear power plant had produced nothing but headaches for its operators.
"Like so many nuclear projects, the Mox plant was sold as a guaranteed money-spinner for UK Plc. Instead it looks like we've been sold the sort of dud you'd expect to find in Arthur Daley's dodgy car lot in Willesden," Greenpeace said. "The grand total of 5.2 tonnes since 2002 ... works out at about £90m per tonne. If anyone can think of any more scandalous ways to waste millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, please send them on a postcard to the bosses at Sellafield."

---

£400 million for low-carbon Britain –

Defra announces 2008/09 Budget settlement

21st February 2008

Setting out details of Defra’s 2008/09 budget settlement, Hilary Benn has announced an increase in funding for clean energy technologies, investments and enterprises to over £400 million over the next three years.

As part of the domestic Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF), the Carbon Trust will receive £47.4 million to bring forward new energy technologies such as offshore wind, third-generation photovoltaic power, marine energy and biomass heating. This funding will also be used to increase the Carbon Trust’s energy-saving loans scheme for small and medium sized enterprises by a further £12 million to £62 million since 2003.

In addition, over the next three years the government will also provide around £10 million for a new anaerobic digestion demonstration programme. Up to four commercial-scale facilities will show the potential of this technology to create renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid waste being sent to landfill.

The 1.4% real increase in Defra’s overall budget on 2007/08 shows the government’s commitment to the environment with significant new investment in the following areas:

Announcing the budget settlement, Hilary Benn told Eco:

“Now is the time to act together to tackle climate change and protect our environment. The Government must lead the way by ensuring we are investing in building a low carbon Britain.

“Defra spending will increase to almost £4 billion over the next three years but we must invest wisely. That is why we are focusing our efforts on helping to provide sustainable options for the future as well as supporting and influencing governments, businesses and consumers locally and globally.”

As part of the 2008/09 budget settlement:

The settlement takes into account all of Defra’s essential spending while providing enough flexibility to ensure the department can protect against risks such as flood management and animal disease.

---

Greenpeace virtual city could

become a reality across the UK

Visit the town at www.greenpeace.org.uk/efficiencity

Greenpeace has launched an interactive virtual city showcasing how towns and cities across the UK are fighting climate change and enjoying a cleaner and more secure energy future - without relying on new coal or nuclear power stations.

The new online town, called EfficienCity, uses interactive case studies and animation to demonstrate how the UK could slash its greenhouse gas emissions, cut electricity bills and beef up the security of its energy supply. The town is powered by "decentralised energy", a clean and efficient energy system that provides heating, cooling and electricity to the community.

Greenpeace is asking visitors to the virtual town to "reclaim the power" from central government and instead engage with their local councils, encouraging them to implement their own local energy schemes based on efficiency, renewables and combined heat and power.

Through interacting with virtual football stadiums, supermarkets, hospitals and breweries based on real world examples, visitors can see how their own communities can join the fight against climate change by generating their own energy.

Greenpeace has developed the project in response to the official energy policy of the UK government, which currently favours large, centralised power generation and nuclear reactors as the solution to keeping the lights on and tackling climate change.

Developed in collaboration with Biro Creative - founded by former staffers of the Adbusters Media Foundation - the project shows how the solutions to climate change can be applied to every British town.

Videos, animations, slideshows and sounds guide the user through a brilliantly realised low carbon system, explaining how renewable technologies - from wave and tidal power to micro-hydro and anaerobic digestion - work. The town also shows how electricity, heat and cooling can all be part of a local energy network.

Greenpeace energy advisor Darren Shirley said: "With EfficienCity we're trying to demonstrate virtually how the real solutions to climate change can work in practise. We're hoping that visitors to the city will see that these technologies aren't science fiction - they're already available today.

"There's absolutely no reason why this kind of integrated, low carbon system couldn't work in every town in Britain. That's why we want people to get active, contact their local politicians and demand real change."

Nicholas Klassen of Biro Creative said: "To combine real world feel with technical precision, we started with a visual style based on "information graphics" and filled it out with colour, dynamism and the ordinary touches of everyday life.

"The site is designed to allow users to dig in on their own terms. Some will graze through the site and be happy with a surface-level engagement. Others will drill down to every layer to absorb every detail."

---

Prince Charles

defends rainforests

3rd February 2008

Prince Charles has said that he wants this year, as he turns 60, to be a defining one in terms of measures to protect the world's remaining rainforests. Long an outspoken proponent of the environment, Charles has set up his own Rainforest Project, and he intends to lobby world leaders and try to halt, or significantly slow, deforestation, thereby making a huge impact in the fight against climate change, which he considers the "single biggest issue facing mankind" in the 21st century. He believes the rainforests are a "precious but rapidly dwindling resource....Combating deforestation is likely to be one of the quickest and most cost effective means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions."

Charles is also backing the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) Amazon Initiative, which will work in the nine countries where the South American rainforest grows - Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Surinam and French Guiana. WWF will work to strengthen protected areas and develop new ways of valuing the forest for its climate role. At the Bali climate conference in December, WWF published a report that claimed that 60% of the Amazon could be destroyed by 2030 by a combination of deforestation and climate change.

---

Climate Action

3rd February 2008

Climate change protestors are planning a new wave of opposition to greenhouse gas polluters across the UK. Airports and some power stations are likely to be targeted, including the Kingsnorth power station in Kent, where the German power giant E.ON is planning to build the first new coal-fired power station in the UK for more than 20 years. A second strike is being threatened against the £40m refining plant run by Greenergy, the UK's biggest biofuels producer, at Immingham on the Humber estuary.

The actions will similar to the climate camp at Heathrow airport last year.

"We are at crisis point. This is a movement that has been building massively since our first climate camp two years ago," said Camp for Climate Action spokeswoman Alex Harvey.

"We feel that there's a need to ratchet the pressure up. We have featured individual sectors in the past but this year we are joining the dots in the fight against the fossil fuel economy," she added.

As the protestors are against fossil fuels, they plan to form a convoy of bicycles and horse-drawn vehicles. The protests are scheduled to take place between 23 July and 5 August.

---

Aussies Feel the Heat

3rd February 2008

Australia has recorded its hottest every January since records began, with the national average hitting 29.2 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) for the summer month, said the Bureau of Meteorology's head of climate analysis, David Jones:

"It's a remarkable number certainly. Averaging, as we did across the whole country 1.3 degrees above average is the highest temperature we've seen in our history of records for Australia in January. Australia is warming up as part of the global warming process," Jones said. "Certainly record high temperatures are coming significantly faster than what we would have expected if it wasn't the case of global warming.

It's just simply not surprising. The world is warming, Australia has warmed by about a degree (since 1950). It just means we get fewer cold days, fewer cold weeks, fewer cold months, and more and more hot ones," he said. "But I guess what is different to the rest of the world is that Australia is already very hot, whereas many other countries around the world have the luxury of a cool climate."

In the outback town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, the coolest day of the month was 36 degrees (97 Fahrenheit).

---

MEPs Vote to

Ban Patio Heaters

1st February 2008

The European parliament has voted to ban patio heaters. MEPs also voted to phase out the standby mode on televisions. The vote has to be ratified by the European Commission, but it now seems likely that patio heaters will be banned as part of a timetable of energy efficiency measures. The heaters have been criticised by environmental campaign groups, led by Friends of the Earth, who have high-lighted the hugely inefficient way the heaters operate. Several garden centres including Wyvale and B&Q have already announced plans to phase them out in response to campaigns.

---

Livingstone pushes £25 charge on gas guzzlers

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone,is pressing ahead with proposals to charge the most polluting vehicles including 4x4s a heavy congestion charge of £25 a day for entering central London. He first raised the proposal a year ago, but it now seems likely to form a central theme of his campaign for re-election as Mayor. He has highlighted the fact that his Conservative opponent Boris Johnson is one of a handful of MPs who have opposed the Kyoto Treaty and backed US President George Bush.

---

The Wonder of Wood

1st February 2008

With rising fuel bills for oil, gas and electric heating, there are signs of renewed interest in wood as a fuel in the UK. Several councils in rural areas, where oil is frequently used for heating, have reported enquiries from tenants wanting to return to open fires or wood burning stoves, due to the soaring cost of oil.

While some claim that wood is a carbon-neutral form of heating, this is open to debate. However there is no doubt that the more efficient modern wood-burning stoves and pellet-burning appliances do have a place, providing they burn wood from sustainably managed forests.

John Nightingale, who runs Stoves Online, comments:

"Wood-burning technology is now racing ahead, with some of the most efficient stoves burning the waste gases two or even three times over, producing minimal amounts of carbon dioxide - far less than if the wood was left to rot in a forest."

The Forestry Commission are promoting wood as a fuel with far lower emissions than oil or gas. Their report "A Wood Fuel Strategy for England", states that using wood as a fuel also helps forest biodiversity, preserves tracts of countryside, reduces fuel bills for some and stops the senseless chucking of millions of tons of wood into landfill

"Well-managed forests producing wood for fuel will reinstate the tree-regeneration and coppice cycle. This encourages biodiversity by providing alternate patches of cover and clearing and piles of rotting wood on the ground," says Jo Fowler, of the Forestry Commission.

"In our Thetford Forest pine plantations in East Anglia, we leave felled areas undisturbed for a couple of years to encourage woodlarks, which like to nest amongst the fellings." Londoners can collect wood for domestic fires from the Leaside Wood Recycling Project, at the northern end of the Blackwall tunnel, which provides large canvas sacks of firewood for £20.

"We make sure the firewood - mainly ex-construction timber - is either unprocessed natural wood or is free from paints," says Adrian Smith, from the project.

"We have saved thousands of tons of wood from going to landfill." It is estimated that a staggering 80 per cent of the 7.5 million tons of wood recovered from businesses and households is sent to landfill. Much of this could be used for heating.

---

Amazon Action

25th January 2008

Brazil has announced emergency action to protect the Amazon rainforest after it was revealed that the rate of deforestation is accelerating again.

The steps were announced after an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The measures include sending extra federal police and environmental agents to stop farmers and cattle ranchers illegally felling any more rainforest.

In the last five months of 2007, 3,235 sq km (1,250 sq miles) were lost.

Environment Minister Marina Silva said environmental agents and police would be deployed around 36 cities and towns where illegal clearing jumped dramatically last year.

The authorities will also monitor areas of deforestation, with the aim of stopping crop planting and cattle raising there. Rising prices of raw materials and commodities could be spurring the rate of forest clearing, the environment minister said. Gilberto Camara, of satellite imaging institute INPE, said: "We've never before detected such a high deforestation rate at this time of year."  The Amazon rainforest is known as the lungs of the world, and its a vital carbon sink in the efforts to stablise climate change.

---

High Energy

Consumers in the UK are in for even higher energy bills after the European Commission set new targets for carbon dioxide emissions. The targets will affect the whole of Europe, but each nation has a different level, according to its circumstances. The UK is particularly badly affected as it has only 2% of its energy produced by renewable energy, which must increase to 15% by 2020. The targets have yet to be endorsed by MEPs and member governments.

Business Secretary John Hutton commented:

"Whatever the final outcome, the UK is already exploring a vast expansion of wind energy offshore, and tidal power on the Severn, and we are already thoroughly reviewing our strategy to drive progress further."

However environmental pressure groups were not impressed. The Director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper, called the plan a "disgrace".

"Europe wants to be a world leader in tackling global warming, but its carbon-reduction target is far weaker than the one agreed at last month's UN climate summit in Bali," he said. "Scientists warn that a cut of at least 30% is required to prevent a climatic catastrophe. The EU must take urgent action. The solutions already exist, what we lack is political ambition and courage.

"Although the UK has one of the biggest renewable energy potentials in the EU, we lag behind most of our European neighbours in developing green power. The government must revolutionise its support for renewables."

Greenpeace director John Sauven commented:

"Britain is set to embark on a clean energy revolution, and it's vital that we approach this with a can-do attitude. Gordon Brown deserves praise for committing to this target, and if his government can deliver it we will have closed the energy gap with clean, reliable technology, created thousands of green-collar jobs and safeguarded our energy supplies – as well as setting an international example on climate change. We now need a completely new industrial policy to make this happen, supporting the engineers and business leaders who can make the target a reality. Just as important is a step change in government thinking, where for too long civil servants at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform have treated the renewables industry with utter contempt."

The Renewable Energy Association's chief executive, Philip Wolse, said the UK government's response to the proposals "lack sustenance and urgency".

"We have been reviewing this area for years. We should be using biomass for energy, not paper for more reports. Ministers admitted in last year's energy white paper that present policies will only deliver a 5% contribution from renewables to the UK's energy by 2020. They signed up to the European 20% target last March – has nothing been done since? The European commission has been gentle giving us a below-average target especially considering we have the best wind, wave and tidal resources in Europe."

---

Black Gold Rush

Japan hit by Recycling Scandal

19/1/08

Japan has been hit by a recycling scandal after it was revealed that two leading paper companies, Oji Paper and Nippon Paper Group have been making up figures for the recycled content of the their products, which in some cases contained no recycled material at all. "We had let the ratio of recycled paper fall amid rising shipments while the amount of recycled paper did not grow," Oji Paper's president, Kazuhisa Shinoda, told reporters in Tokyo.

In one case Oji Paper said the amount of recycled paper in its copy and printing paper was as high as 50% when the real figure was between 5% and 10%.

The firm's envelopes contained, at most, 30% of recycled paper, although consumers had been led to believe it was as high as 70%, while other products contained no recycled material at all.

The scandal dragged down paper shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. Nippon Paper's shares plummeted 10% to 267,000 yen (£128) after the copier maker Fuji Xerox and other firms said they would stop selling its products. Shares in Oji Paper, meanwhile, dived 4.7% to close at 476 yen. Japan's fair trade commission is expected to decide soon whether the companies can be prosecuted under existing mislabeling laws.

---

Turtles' endangered status

is an advantage to traders

---

Tisbury to ban the bag

Tisbury in Wiltshire has become the latest town to introduce a ban on single use plastic bags.

Shops in Tisbury, population 2,000, are bringing in the rule on 1 January to try to reduce plastic waste.

Residents have agreed to use their own bags when shopping. The retired Bishop of Bath and Wells, John Bickersteth, came up with the idea.

He said he wanted to preserve the earth and was delighted to have convinced the traders to help him. A breakthrough came when the local Co-op agreed to take part.

Shop worker Liz Crossley added: "It's a mind-set thing.

"Once you manage to get the bag in the car, then you've cracked it."

The idea of banning plastic bags was pioneered by Rebecca Hosking, a BBC camera woman who was so shocked at the albatrosses, turtles and dolphins choking to death on plastic, that she persuaded her local town of Modbury in Devon to give up using plastic bags. Six months on and the ban still stands, and the idea is being taken up around the country.