22 Apr 2010
I was lucky enough to attend the Guardian's climate change hustings event and witness the three main parties' energy and climate change spokesmen set out their green stalls ahead of next month's general election. It was an engaging and at time enthralling evening, but nearly 24 hours on I'm still not quite sure what to think.
I left the debate feeling somehow disappointed, but unable to put my finger on why. The quality of the debate had been surprisingly high and each of the three main candidates were quietly impressive, displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of environmental policy past, present and future, and a genuinely heartfelt understanding of the scale of the threats and opportunities climate change presents.
Simon Hughes appeared to win by a nose from Ed Miliband, with Greg Clark, encumbered by his party's climate sceptic wing, trailing in third. But all three of them enhanced already burgeoning reputations, and as George Monbiot observed on the Guardian web site earlier today they each engaged in a progressive political debate that would have been unimaginable just five years ago. The low carbon economy really has come a very long way in a very short space of time.
So why my nagging sense of disappointment? I think it comes from an underlying feeling that something is still missing. Despite the cosy consensus on the seriousness of climate change and the impressive command of policy detail there is something absent from all three of the main parties' climate change agendas, something big and intangible – it is called leadership.
Watching the three candidates debate the issues it rapidly became clear that while there is no difference in their eventual goal of a decarbonised Britain and next to no difference in the policies they plan to use to get there -- the differences boil down to: Labour still wants Heathrow, Lib Dems want renewables instead of nuclear, the Tories want a bit of everything as long as it doesn’t upset the climate sceptics -- no one is doing the "vision thing". No one has worked out how to sell this low carbon revolution and make it a genuine electoral issue. That is why the debate last night was between three mid-ranking front bench politicians and why I'd bet good money climate change will get not much more than a cursory mention at tonight's televised leaders debate.
The closest any party comes to a coherent vision is the Conservatives with their small government, big society schtick and proposals to help people seize the opportunity to take part in the low carbon revolution. The glaring problem is that this is categorically the wrong vision for tackling global warming given that laissez faire policies have singularly failed so far to resolve the looming climate crisis.
The simple fact is none of the three party leaders speaks particularly convincingly about climate change and the low carbon economy, and their private polling has obviously told them that this is not a cause for concern because the electorate doesn't care anyway.
This election campaign has shown that while the political engagement with the environment is more encouraging than ever before there are still two jarring disconnects in the response to climate change.
At one level we now have the rhetoric, which accepts the scale of the climate challenge and outlines the case for the low carbon economy. But there is then a gap between this rhetoric and the policy response. Thankfully this gap is shrinking fast with the three main parties all offering manifestos that point to increased investment in renewables, energy efficiency and low carbon infrastructure.
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Agreed. Vision is lacking
Labour's emphasis on tackling the energy efficiency of our homes is a positive step forward in the battle against climate change. However, instead of a delivery plan all we received in March was yet another strategy paper and another consultation on EPCs. The fact is Labour is bereft of vision and ability to deliver energy efficient homes. All we have had in 13 years is dithering, broken promises and £ hundred of millions of taxpayers' money, wasted. It is a story of failure on a massive scale: Failed communication strategy. After spending an estimated £400 million of taxpayers' money, still more than 15 million homeowners are unaware about insulation and confused as to where to go for advice and help. Duplicated work and costs. Government departments and quangos responsible for housing and the environment have wasted £ millions on projects that haven't worked and on hundreds of consultations, research reports, workshops and focus groups. Four million homeowners forced to pay £250 million for EPCs have received little or no advice on them. To most, it seems Government has simply taken their money and abandoned them and in any other sector, it would be regarded as a scam. As a result, through no fault of their own, most homeowners now wrongly regard EPCs as an additional, unwanted, moving cost - and a stealth tax by Government. Labour's deliberating and dithering and the stop start of CERT has resulted in more than a quarter of staff at insulation companies being idle and at current volumes the target to insulate all cavities and lofts by 2015 will not be achieved. Over seven million homes still require solid wall insulation. Only 20,000 are currently being insulated per year. Disengaged home selling, buying and renting supply chain because Labour has made no attempt to ask for their help in promote energy efficiency and alienated them over Home Information Packs. Disengaged consumer facing organisations such as retailers, banks and building societies at a time when the energy efficiency industry needs their help. As a result, the innovation, diversity and competition that such organisations could provide to stimulate growth in 'green' services has simply not happened. Disengaged local authorities despite Labour saying they will lead the delivery of energy efficient homes. Most councils only have an interest in improving social housing not private housing and given the need to cut back public spending, where are Councils going to get the money from? 10,000 Domestic Energy Assessors and Home Inspectors conned into believing they would have good career prospects. Home Energy Advisers next? The fact is that after 13 years of Labour, there is still no clear vision. No joined up thinking. No coherent strategy. No delivery plan. Insufficient buy-in from the private sector and councils. Insufficient market led solutions. Insufficient consumer incentives and insufficient account taken of commercial realities. We cannot go on like this. Change is desperately needed. The UK's taxpayers' including 26 million homeowners and 10 million tenants need to know how Labour has squandered their money and if re-elected, that there is a risk they will continue to do so. Over the next few weeks, I will therefore be writing about subjects such as: Energy Savings Trust's failed communication strategy Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes jamboree for consultants The £250 million EPC scandal The need for mergers of environmental quangos Why PAYS will not work but the Green Deal, could Why Councils will not be able to deliver energy efficient homes why engagement of the private sector is key to creating energy efficient homes. Over next few weeks, I will be writing articles on what is needed on domestic energy efficiency and hope that the next Government will deliver what is needed for the sake of homeowners, tenants and the environment.
Posted by Nigel Farren, 23 Apr 2010