Aims of the inquiry
1. In December 2005 the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs Committee launched a series of linked inquiries into aspects
of climate change policy. The Committee's Report Climate change:
the role of bioenergy was published on 18 September 2006.[2]
This, the second theme to be addressed, examines how the ordinary
citizen can change his or her lifestyle to minimise the impact
of climate change and to mitigate its effects.
2. Evidence was requested on the following points:
a) What is the real scope for individual and
local community action to contribute to tackling climate change?
Some areas for possible consideration include:
- increasing energy efficiency,
in particular the delivery of the Energy Efficiency Commitment
(EEC);
- reducing energy consumptionnot only electricity,
but also energy used in heating and transportation;
- the provision of desirable low carbon alternatives,
such as energy saving lightbulbs or using public transport;
- the potential for, and barriers to, microgeneration;
- the potential for 'smart metering';
awareness of climate change and availability of information
about the role of the individual in tackling the problem.
b) What are the barriers to uptake of climate
change mitigation strategies at the level of the individual, and
how can they be overcome? Are current incentives such as the energy
efficiency commitment or graduated vehicle excise duty sufficiently
strong to affect behaviour?
c) How can Government and other agenciesat
national, regional and local levelsencourage the uptake
of domestic emission reduction measures? What is the role of community
projects in schools and other public institutions?
d) What is the role of NGOs in delivering the
"citizen's agenda" on climate change?
e) Are Domestic Tradable Quotas (also known as
personal carbon allowances) a viable option? What other economic
and other incentives for behavioural change might also be considered?
f) To what extent is 'green taxation' an effective
driver of behavioural change?
3. We received 57 written submissions and took oral
evidence between October 2006 and May 2007 from: the Energy Saving
Trust (EST); the Local Government Association (LGA); Global Action
Plan; the Centre for Sustainable Energy; Richard Starkey, the
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research; the Royal Society
for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA);
the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE); Centrica
plc; EDF Energy plc; Ofgem; the Institution of Civil Engineers
(ICE); the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); B&Q;
the Micropower Council; the Energy Retail Association (ERA); Dr
Dave Reay, Edinburgh University; Sir David Attenborough; Alan
Simpson MP; the Environment Agency; Ian Pearson MP, the then Minister
of State (Climate Change and the Environment); the Carbon Trust;
and Friends of the Earth. We received a further 36 written submissions
as part of our evidence gathering at the University of East Anglia
in January 2007 and took oral evidence from Mr Jon Cape; Mr Garry
Charnock; Dr Roy Alexander; Mr Jason Borthwick; Mr John Riley;
Dr Laurence Matthews; Mr Bill Butcher; Mr Doug Hoffman; Ms Helen
Deavin; Reverend David Hares; Mr Glenn Buckingham; Ms Belinda
James; and the Community Carbon Reduction Programme (CRed). We
are grateful to all those who gave evidence to our inquiry. We
would also like to place on record our thanks to our specialist
advisor, Dr Jim Watson, Science and Technology Policy Research
Unit, University of Sussex.
4. In September 2006 we visited Leicester to see
first-hand local activity by schools and businesses to help tackle
climate change at the community level. In January 2007 we also
visited the Centre for Alternative Technology and Dulas Ltd. in
Machynlleth, Wales; the University of East Anglia in Norwich where
we took evidence in public from interested individuals; and, in
February 2007, Southern Germany and Woking, as part of the inquiry.
In March 2006 we visited Washington DC and California in the United
States to discuss various aspects of the climate change agenda.
We would like to thank all those, including Foreign and Commonwealth
Office staff, who facilitated these visits. We are grateful to
all those who took the time to meet us. The Chairman also participated
in a BBC Radio 4 discussion as part of the You and Yours
series of programmes into Select Committee inquiries, which received
a record number of responses.
5. During the course of our investigation it became
apparent that the production, consumption and transportation of
food and drink also form a notable proportion of the individuals'
contribution to climate change. This Report does not examine these
issues, however we conclude that these aspects of the climate
change agenda may merit examination by the Committee in the future.
Background
6. The UK Government already has two domestic climate
change goals:
- to reduce CO2 emissions
by 20% below 1990 baseline levels by 2010; and
- by 60% below the same baseline by 2050.
7. Whilst the UK Government is on course to exceed
its commitment for greenhouse gas reductions under the Kyoto Protocol,[3]
recent estimates suggest that net CO2 emissions fell
by only around 5% between 1990 and 2006.[4]
Total UK CO2 emissions fell by a mere 0.1% between
2004 and 2005.[5] The Government
has already conceded that it is unlikely to achieve the 20% target
by 2010, with current projections suggesting that in the absence
of new policy measures the reduction will be 16.2% below 1990
baseline levels by 2010.[6]
The draft Climate Change Bill, published in March 2007, aims to
put into statute the intention to reduce CO2 emissions
by 60% below 1990 levels by 2050. The draft Bill also proposes
an interim target of reducing CO2 to a level 26-32%
below 1990 baseline levels by 2020.[7]
We have commented on this in more detail in our recent Report
on the Draft Climate Change Bill.[8]
UK household emissions
8. According to the Government's report Climate
Change: The UK Programme 2006, CO2 emissions from
the domestic sector fell from 155.5 MtCO2 in 1990 to
145.9 MtCO2 in 2000. This decrease in emissions can
be attributed in part to a background improvement in energy efficiency
of just over 1% per annum, combined with the "dash-for-gas"
in the electricity generation sector. Howevereven with
the move from coal to gashousehold emissions rose again
to 152.9 MtCO2 in 2004, a mere 2.6 MtCO2
below 1990 levels and equivalent to 27% of total UK emissions.[9]
9. In 2001 each UK household emitted, on average,
20.7 tonnes of CO2, including emissions from transport.
Nearly one third of this can be accounted for by energy useelectricity
and energy for space and water heatingin the home.[10]
Total household emissions can be broken down accordingly:[11]

1 BBC programme, Can We Save Planet Earth?,
June 2006 Back
2
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of
Session 2005-06, Climate change: the role of bioenergy,
HC 965, September 2006 Back
3
To meet its Kyoto commitment, the UK is required to reduce its
emissions by 12.5% below 1990 baseline levels by 2008-12. The
term 'greenhouse gases' as defined by the Kyoto Protocol includes
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous
oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons
(PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Back
4
Department of Trade and Industry, Meeting the Energy Challenge:
A White Paper on Energy, Cm 7124, May 2007 Back
5
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2005 UK
climate change sustainable development indicator and greenhouse
gas emissions final figures, 31 January 2007 Back
6
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Second Report of
Session 2006-07, Defra's Departmental Annual Report 2006 and
Defra's budget, HC 132, February 2007; HC Deb, 12 June 2007,
col 735 Back
7
HM Government, Draft Climate Change Bill, Cm 7040, March
2007 Back
8
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of
Session 2006-07, Draft Climate Change Bill, HC 534, July
2007 Back
9
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Climate
Change: The UK Programme 2006, Cm 6764, March 2006 (figures
are reported in MtC in Climate Change: The UK Programme 2006
and have been converted into MtCO2 by multiplying
by 44/12); Department for Communities and Local Government, Review
of Sustainability of Existing Buildings, November 2006 Back
10
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The environment
in your pocket 2006, October 2006 Back
11
Stockholm Environment Institute, York; see Defra, The environment
in your pocket 2006, October 2006 Back