APPENDIX 26
Memorandum from Policy Studies Institute
In the Memorandum (largely based on our book
How we can save the planet *) for the Environmental Audit Committee's
Inquiry, The International Challenge of Climate Change, we concluded
that the Global Commons Institute's Contraction and Convergence
framework offered the only political feasible and morally justifiable
strategy that provides an assured solution to the awesome problems
posed particularly by the affluent world population's continuing
profligacy in fossil fuel use.
We pointed to the urgency with which procrastination
on this critical issue must be ended. To accelerate such a course
of action, we highlighted the imperative of informing the public,
politicians and industrialists on:
— the case for Contraction and Convergence;
and
— its manifestation in the form of
per capita carbon rationing;
In our view, an understanding of the elements
of carbon rationing is essential to enabling individuals to audit
their own carbon emissions and, in that way, to appreciate:
— the extent to which these emissions
exceed their fair share of this commodity (set by the finite capacity
of the planetary atmosphere to absorb the emissions without severe
climatic instability);
— the courses of action that must be
taken to lower the emissions to that equitable level.
In Chapter eight of our book, we set out a simple
auditing process—see the Annex to this Memorandum—and
action that can be taken to achieve both of the above ends. The
completion of a personal audit are likely to have both a cathartic
and energising effect. We see this as essential to an appreciation
of the gravity of continuing with lifestyles dependent on too
much energy use and of the changes to them that must come in the
wake of this.
* Mayer Hillman and Tina Fawcett, How we can
save the planet, Penguin Books, 2004. ISBN 0-141-01692-2
As part of a programme of "education for
sustainable development", we therefore urge the Committee
to consider incorporating this process into the school curriculum
in order to promote the imperative of understanding on the subject.
We consider that "sustainability" is too loose a term
for it to be meaningful in coming to terms with the reality of
the impact on the environment of the lifestyle of each individual—and
therefore responsibility for taking steps to limit emissions to
the safe level that does not exceed their fair share of "the
global commons".
December 2004
Annex
AUDIT YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS
We invite you to calculate your own emissions—it
does not take long—and then enter into a pact with yourself
and your household to reduce them. What are the emissions from
your use of energy? How do these compare with the national average?
More importantly, how do they compare with what is necessary to
meet future reduction targets—three tonnes by 2020 and 1.5
tonnes by 2030?
INSTRUCTIONS FOR
CARRYING OUT
YOUR CARBON
AUDIT
— For the gas, electricity and oil
used in your home, calculate your annual consumption in kilowatt
hours (kWh) from your energy bills. Divide each total by the number
of people in your household, to get your personal energy consumption.
— For transport, roughly estimate your
own annual travel in kilometres (for miles multiply by 1.6)—it
is not necessary to be precise.
— Put these figures for YOUR annual
consumption in the table below. Then use the multiplier in the
next column to get the figure for YOUR carbon dioxide emissions
in kilograms (kgCO2).
— Add up your emissions from all your
different activities to get an annual figure, and then compare
this for the average individual and with your ration in future
years.
By 2020, a return flight from London to New
York alone will exceed the annual personal ration for all your
fossil fuel purposes!
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