Since the Big If pledge launched in March, when Age of Stupid actor Pete Postletwaite promised the UK Energy and Climate Change minister Ed Miliband that he would return his OBE if the government gave the go-ahead for a new coal power station Kingsnorth, thousands of people have joined him in making pledges of their own.

Greenpeace UK has been a core member of the Big If coalition from the start, together with a wide range of other organisations including the RSPB, World Development Movement, Oxfam and the Women’s Institute. Because if Kingsnorth and the other 10 plants planned to follow it get built, then we’ll have next to no chance of meeting our CO2 reduction targets and reining in runaway climate change.

The first major coalition event was the Mili-band – a symbolic surrounding of the Kingsnorth site in July, and others are planned in the near future. Each organisation has asked its supporters to pledge what they are prepared to do if Ed Miliband does give the go-ahead to new coal. The actual pledges vary depending on the nature of the organisation.

Greenpeace have already signed up nearly 6,000 people, who’ve variously agreed to either:

• vote at the next election for political candidates who oppose new coal;
• join a protest at the Department of Energy and Climate Change;
• take non-violent direct action to prevent the new plant being built;

…or make some other useful protest of their own devising.

From Greenpeace UK.

You’re probably fed-up of hearing about politicians’ expenses by now and might be unsure about voting at all on Thursday 4th June.

So here’s a short video by the great comedian and campaigner, Mark Thomas (no relation!), explaining why you should vote Green in the local and European elections…

Mark makes some important points in the video and it’s worth bearing in mind that not voting at all will play into the hands of extremists, who’ll be out in force on Thursday.

“All the other parties are CRAP, and that’s official!” Mark Thomas, comedian and campaigner

If you weren’t convinced by Mark’s “they’ve also got the cutest sandals” argument (and you have a few minutes to spare), check out Caroline Lucas speaking on the recession, the Green New Deal, and the need for more Green councillors, in a speech on the opening day of the Green Party spring conference in Blackpool, last month.

You might also want to head over to the Green Party website for more information about why you should vote Green in the local and European elections on Thursday.

Caroline Lucas should be the luckiest woman in politics. More than 20 years ago she joined a minor, leftfield party: today its defining issue has become the biggest political issue in the world. Bingo! Only politics, of course, is not that simple.

As Winston Churchill famously pointed out, democracy has been described as “the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried”, and if you really want to see what he meant, spend an hour with the leader of the Green party.

European elections

Less than three weeks away from the European elections, the dilemmas facing Lucas are daunting. If she campaigns on climate change alone, she demotes her party to the status of a single-issue outfit. However, if she broadens its platform with a comprehensive policy package, she risks exiling it to the unelectably leftwing wilderness.

If the Greens ditch some of their policies in the interests of electability, they sacrifice their unique claim to integrity, and begin to look just like every other party. But their integrity is so precious to them that they have wasted the last 20 years fiddling over whether they can compromise their principles by putting on a suit and electing a single leader, while the planet has been burning.

They believe that only government action can save the planet now, so they are pinning all their hopes on Lucas taking the party’s one winnable Westminster seat, Brighton Pavilion, at the next general election. But even if she wins, does the party have enough time left to build a parliamentary movement? Probably not.

Climate change matters

Our electoral system makes a Green government all but unimaginable, and their core issue – climate change – is a nightmare to campaign on. No party has ever won by telling the country it can no longer enjoy the life it has taken for granted, and if Lucas tells voters the truth – that beating climate change means more than recycling plastic bags – she risks making her message disastrously unpopular.

What Lucas says about the environment must be pitched at voters who know that climate change matters, but still hope it can be tackled with some minor lifestyle adjustments. Her manifesto pledges a million new jobs in the green industries, in a more localised, low-carbon economy.

From The Guardian

Full interview with Caroline Lucas
Find out more about the Green Party

A last-ditch effort is being made to insert clearer green commitments into the global economic recovery package being discussed at the G20 summit tomorrow.

The move comes amid fears that the G20 summit is in danger of missing a unique opportunity to prevent the world from being locked into irreversible and catastrophic climate change.

Some senior British officials privately believe the framing of the G20 stimulus package to ensure it has a large green element will be as decisive in the battle against climate change as the outcome of the UN talks on climate change in Copenhagen.

“I think it [low-carbon recovery] deserves a higher profile. Everybody seems to be focusing on short-term recovery and getting long-term regulation of the banks right.” Professor Robert Watson, chief scientific adviser for DEFRA

Lord Stern, the government’s former climate change adviser, yesterday tried to increase the pressure on the G20 by arguing that the worst recession since the 1930s gave the world the opportunity to lay the foundations for growth over several decades, based on low-carbon technology and energy efficiency.

He said the argument that the first priority was to deal with the current economic crisis and postpone action on climate change was “wrong and should be confronted”.

Opportunity for ‘green’ recovery

Lord Stern called for the G20 leaders to send out a signal that the “difficult” work of getting the specifics of a deal in place needed to be done. “This is an opportunity to have a green recovery that lays the foundations of growth for the next two to three decades.”

Gordon Brown yesterday promised that a commitment to tackle the environment will be one of the five tests of the communique due to be released following the summit on Thursday, adding “there were long hours of hard negotiations ahead”.

“I haven’t heard anything that suggests the green recovery and climate change are a major part of the [G20] agenda. It would be a missed opportunity while they’re talking about the economy not to talk about how to transform it to low carbon.” Professor Robert Watson, chief scientific adviser for DEFRA

The draft G20 communique leaked at the weekend makes only the smallest reference to climate change, and appears to be vague on the subject of how green the $2trillion (£1.4trillion) stimulus package agreed by world leaders should be.

From The Guardian

With the inauguration of President Barack Obama today, and the dawn of a new era in American politics, the hard work begins to save the environment and rebuild the economy.

President Obama has already made a number of pledges in relation to the environment and has spoken passionately about his plans for greening the White House. But, with many other pressing issues to deal with, can he really deliver the goods?

The change we need

Back in November, last year, we reported on Barack Obama’s support for the New Apollo Program. In The change we really do need we highlighted the 5-point program to implement a strategy to bring new jobs and energy security to the US through an alternative energy economy.

“A new energy economy is going to be part of what creates the millions of new jobs that we need” Barack Obama

A new energy economy is at the heart of President Obama’s policy on the environment and economic recovery. Putting it into practice however is likely to prove difficult in the face of vested interests and entenched values. Pulling it off will be nothing short of a miracle!

Cap-and-trade legislation

One of his first steps at home is likely be the adoption of cap-and-trade legislation. This would set the foundation for carbon trading: as in the European Union, the amount of greenhouse gases that industries can lawfully emit would be limited (the “cap”), and companies would have to either buy emission permits or find ways of reducing their emissions. [1]

After slamming the door of the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush administration refused any timetable for obligatory reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. As an alternative, it argued in favour of voluntary commitments and a policy of support for technological innovation. The least that can be said is that this orientation has not produced the effects that were anticipated: between 1993 and 2005, the CO2 emissions of the US energy sector increased by more than 15 per cent. Obama is adopting a radically different approach, promising a law whose objective would be to reduce emissions by 80 per cent in 2050, compared to 1990. [2]

Clean energy

Clean energy projects are the foundation of the $550 billion that Congress and the new administration want to spend to stimulate the economy to put 3 million people back to work. The balance of the proposed $825 billion stimulus is $275 billion in tax cuts. The magnitude of the proposed clean energy investment clearly indicates that President Obama plans to launch his presidency with one of the most transcendent ideas in the history of the republic. He wants to anchor the American economy with energy sources other than those produced from fossil fuels. [3]

Renewables, including hydroelectricity from dams, generate 8% of US electricity now and Obama has said he wants 10% of electricity to come from them by 2012 and 25% by 2025. This still falls short of Europe where the plan is for renewables to generate 20% of all energy, including electricity, by 2020. However, the global financial crisis could undermine many of his plans, some analysts have warned, with many clean technology companies expected to go out of business in the next 18 months. [4]

International responsibilities

European environment groups have welcomed what they hope will be a radical new direction for US environmental policy.

“Obama’s victory will give crucial climate negotiations a much greater chance of success – the United States must face up to its international responsibilities and show positive global leadership in low-carbon economic development” Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth

With strong leadership from the US it is hoped that the next round of talks on climate change, in Copenhagen later this year, will result in a more positive outcome and agreement.

Whether he can make a difference and deliver the goods remains to be seen but here at Green Pepper we welcome the change and send our warmest good wishes to President Obama and the new adminstration.

Tell us what you think

We’d love to hear your views of President Barack Obama. Can he really make a difference and deliver the goods on climate change and the environment? Read what others have said and join the debate by leaving your comments below.

Sources:
1. How fast can Obama fix US environment policy? New Scientist
2. The energy climate plan of Barack Obama International Viewpoint
3. Clean Energy Is Foundation of Proposed Stimulus Apollo Alliance
4. Obama victory signals rebirth of US environmental policy The Guardian

The UN Climate Change Conference in Poznań concluded on Saturday with a commitment from governments to shift into full negotiating mode next year in order to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen next year.

Western delegates said progress had been encouraging, but environment groups said rich countries had not shown enough ambition.

Tim Jones of the World Development Movement summed up the feelings of many. “There has been disappointingly little progress on the agreement reached last year in Bali” he said. “Yet again, the rich countries, who carry the historical responsibility for climate change, have failed to offer sufficient cuts.”

Full details of the conference are available on the UNFCCC website.

More than 9000 delegates from around the world are gathering in Poznań, Poland for two weeks of critical UN sponsored talks on tackling climate change.

It’s anticipated that 150 environment ministers will attend the discussions, which are part of a process on finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol is due to end in 2012, and there is now a major international push to have its successor agreed by this time next year.

Representatives from almost every country on the planet are set to start 12 days of tough talks in Poland today, aimed at getting the ball rolling for a new global climate change pact.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The forum of the 192-member UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Poznań, Poland comes halfway through a two-year process launched by the international community in Bali a year ago.

The aim is to forge a new global treaty in Copenhagen, in December 2009, that will be the most ambitious and complex environmental deal ever seen.

The stakes are high, with scientists warning that failure to take action on a worldwide basis will inflict irreparable damage to the planet’s climate system.

Find out more

You can find out more and keep up-to-date with developments at UN Climate Change Conference on the Greenpeace Climate Change website, where you can also take action to let leaders know that the World is Watching what happens at this year’s meeting.

The dawn of a new era in American politics brings with it the hope of a real change in energy policy.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged his support for the Apollo Alliance Program to bring new jobs and energy security to the US through an alternative energy economy.

The new Apollo program

The idea for a new Apollo program to build an alternative energy economy has been around since the Apollo Alliance was founded in 2004.

“Building a new energy economy requires a new way of doing business in America, one that takes the cost of global warming into account. It also requires visionary new investments in our industries, our communities, and our workers.” The New Apollo Program

According to their website, the program would generate and invest $500 billion over 10 years to implement a strategy of five principal initiatives:

• Rebuild America “clean and green”
  Produce 25 percent of the nation’s power from renewable sources and upgrade the energy efficiency of buildings by at least 30 percent by 2025, modernize the power grid, and improve transit systems.
• Make it in America
  Retool American factories to build renewable energy systems and high-efficiency, alternative-fuel vehicles.
• Restore America’s technological leadership
  Double national investment in clean energy research and development.
• Tap the productivity of the American people
  Invest in green-collar job training initiatives – including job readiness and service programs, union apprenticeships, and community and technical college courses – to provide better jobs and the workforce needed to build the clean energy future.
• Reinvest in America
  Establish a cap and invest program to reduce carbon emissions and reinvest resources to build the new clean energy economy.

Annual investment

An annual investment of about $50 billion a year, the Alliance notes, is a smaller share of the gross domestic product than was spent on the Apollo space program, about one-third of current spending in Iraq, and roughly half of what was lent by the federal government to insurance giant AIG.

“A new economic turbocharger is going to have to be found and there is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy. That’s going to be my No 1 priority when I get into office.” Barack Obama in an interview for Time magazine (Oct 08)

By backing the new Apollo program, Barack Obama might have the answers to see the US out of the current financial crisis – and resolve the global warming issue at the same time. Here’s hoping!

The UK Energy Bill is going through Parliament right now! The Energy Bill covers a wide range of issues from fossil-fuels and nuclear power to renewable energy such as tidal, wind and solar power.

The history of renewable energy in the UK shows that the Government has always been happier spending vast sums of public money on nuclear power rather than on developing safe and sustainable energy sources.

Feed-In Tariff

Part of the Bill will seek to modify and strengthen the existing Renewables Obligation, committing energy companies to firm targets, which has been far less successful than the Feed-In Tariff system used in most of the rest of the European Union.

The Feed-In Tariff is a duty on energy companies to pay a guaranteed, long-term, premium price for electricity generated by renewable sources.

Considerable success

Feed-In Tariffs have been introduced in 17 European countries with considerable success. In 2007, Germany, driven by Feed-In Tariff legislation, generated 15% of its energy from renewable sources, compared with just 2.3% in the UK.

A Feed-In Tariff would provide for the expansion of smaller scale renewable technologies by providing a better return for those who invest in them, and providing security on that investment.

Contact your MP

Friends of the Earth is calling on MPs to support a Renewable Energy Tariff (aka Feed-In Tariff) in the Energy Bill.

Add your voice to the campaign by contacting your MP to express your concern about the lack of support for smaller scale renewable schemes and urging them to support ‘Early Day Motion 2226′ which calls for a Renewable Energy Tariff to be included in the Energy Bill.

Enter your postcode in the box below to find out how to contact your MP by email or post.