House of Commons - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Eighth Report

1 Introduction

If you could look into your grandchildren's eyes and say you knew about climate change and yet didn't bother to do anything about it, that would be a terrible thing.

The task ahead of us is vast, but we can all make a difference at every level, even the smallest. Sir David Attenborough[1]

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 consumption—not 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 agencies—at national, regional and local levels—encourage 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. However—even with the move from coal to gas—household 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 use—electricity and energy for space and water heating—in the home.[10] Total household emissions can be broken down accordingly:[11]