There are many different ways the UK can achieve its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. Do you rely entirely on renewable energy sources? Do you develop a strategy using a mixture of nuclear and carbon capture and storage? Or do you focus on cutting energy consumption, rather than changing methods of energy production?

A series of different pathways can be explored using the DECC’s carbon calculator. You are able to modify two columns of sliders; one which gives different scenarios for energy consumption, and one which allows different scenarios for energy production. For each factor, you can select a few options between ‘no change to recent trends’, and a level of change which is described as a ‘heroic effort.’

What’s clear after a quick play with the calculator is that achieving the government’s target is going to be difficult – making effort described as ‘achievable’ by ‘most stakeholders’, the UK would only cut emissions by 42% by 2050.

EVIDENCE SESSION

Wednesday 15 September 2010

House of Commons

Witness:
At 3.00 pm
* Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will hold this oral evidence session in relation to Defra’s priorities and annual accounts.
The meeting will take place in a committee room in the House of Commons. Visitors should check the exact location nearer the time on http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/.

The UK Government this morning launched the first White Paper concerned with the management of the natural environment for 20 years, at a reception at the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew Gardens. The BES was present to hear Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Richard Benyon, Minister for the Natural and Marine Environment, give speeches to launch a consultation seeking the views of the public and private sectors on what the White Paper should contain.

The Secretary of State said that the new Government wished to ’seize the day’, with a fresh impetus to protect the natural environment, highlighting the importance of the environment to the health and wellbeing of the UK’s population. She said that society needs to make faster progress in halting environmental degradation and that making the case for the interdependence between the economy and the natural environment was a fundamental tool to allow this. Ms Spelman said that protection of the natural environment lent itself well to the coalition Government’s ‘Big Society’ agenda, with many community and voluntary groups active in environmental conservation already. She emphasised that her ‘mission personally’ was to link climate change and biodiversity in the policy sphere, later, in questionning, commenting that public understanding of biodiversity lagged 10 – 20 years behind that of society’s appreciation of climate change.

Richard Benyon emphasised that the Defra team wished to use the skills, know-how and expertise of the environmental and conservation communities to inform the development of the White Paper, and encouraged engagement from those in the audience. A small expert panel has been convened to drive the development of the Paper, including Sir Graham Wynne, former CEO of the RSPB, and an Inter-Departmental group of civil servants will work to involve all Government Departments in the formulation of the policy. Discussion groups, some which Richard Benyon hopes to chair himself, will be held around the country to seek the views of interested stakeholders.

During the question and answer session which followed the White Paper was welcomed by the RSPB, NFU and Pondlife, amongst other organisations. In answering a question from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Richard Benyon stated that the White Paper represented the ideal opportunity to carry forward a scheme of ‘Conservation Credits’, first proposed in the Conservative Manifesto (pre-coalition). Defra officials are currently generating ideas for how such a scheme could be implemented in the UK, drawing on experiences internationally.

It was clear that both Defra Ministers are committed to the principle of better valuing the environment as a means to better conserve it. One key challenge will be bringing other Departments, particularly the Treasury, on board with this and making sure that Caroline Spelman’s ambition to ‘put the value of nature at the heart of policy-making’ across the UK is fulfilled.

The BES will be responding to the consultation to inform development of the Natural Environment White Paper (deadline: 30 October). To contribute your views please contact the BES Policy Team.

The Natural Capital Initiative is organising a workshop series on ‘Biodiversity Offsetting’, to inform policy development on an offsetting, or ‘conservation credits’ scheme for the UK. Find out more at the NCI website.

From the Defra website:

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman today announced reforms to more than 30 of Defra’s arm’s length bodies.

Defra has around 90 arm’s length bodies, many of which were set up in a time when our understanding of and engagement with environmental issues was less mainstream. Most of the things that these bodies do are now part of what the Government does as a matter of course, others are now no longer necessary.

Caroline Spelman said:

“This Government is committed to being the greenest Government ever and the Structural Reform Plan published last week sets out how Defra will play its part in achieving this. Reducing the deficit is the priority for the Government and all departments are playing their part in making efficiency savings.

“Together with Chris Huhne I am determined to play the lead role in driving the sustainability agenda across the whole of government and I am not willing to delegate this responsibility to an external body.

“The effective delivery of public services is essential and I am committed to increasing the transparency and accountability of Defra’s public bodies and to reducing their numbers and costs. Times have changed since many of these bodies were set up and much of what they do is now everyday Government business.”

The Secretary of State announced that she will be:

Withdrawing Defra funding from the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC);
Abolishing the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution;
Abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board, the 15 Agricultural Wages Committees, the 16 Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committees and the Committee on Agricultural Valuation;
Abolishing the Inland Waterways Advisory Council; and
Abolishing the Commons Commissioners.
Caroline Spelman continued:

“We will continue to liaise closely with the Sustainable Development Commission’s partners and will work with business, civil society, local communities, universities and internationally, to help deliver sustainable development together.

“The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee will provide powerful democratic scrutiny of Government’s work in this area.”

The arm’s length body review will make Defra a leaner, stronger department – with a renewed and clearer focus on its key priorities and a simplified structure for delivering those priorities; underpinned by a robust, credible and efficient science base.

The Secretary of State will continue to look closely at other Defra arm’s length bodies and will make any further announcements as appropriate.

This week has seen the publication of a comprehensive report on the state of the UK seas, Charting Progress 2, carried out by the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment community and published by Defra.

There have been “significant improvements” in some areas since 2005. Coastal waters are getting cleaner, fish stocks are improving and species diversity in estuaries is increasing. Fish stocks are improving overall, partly due to reductions in European Union quotas. Furthermore, the proportion of fin-fish stocks harvested sustainably in the UK has risen from 10% in the 1990s to 25% in 2007.

However, this still means that the majority of fish stocks are being harvested at unsustainable levels. Declines due to unsustainable harvests are being compounded by warmer waters, which are causing the cold and warm water zooplankton that fish feed on to move north. Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, with the mean sea level rising by 1.4mm per year in the 20th century, whilst the picture for waterbirds and seabirds is mixed, with waterbird populations being generally healthy, whilst the numbers of some seabirds are falling, particularly in the north.

Whilst pollution from heavy metals is continuing to fall in UK waters, there are still some localised problems such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which, while stabilising nationally, are still found in places at levels that affect wildlife, including harbour porpoises. Litter levels have also doubled between 1994 and 2007.

Marine environment Minister Richard Benyon said: “The report’s findings show that we are moving in the right direction, but there is more work that needs to be done, especially to protect the UK’s seabirds. I am committed to improving our marine environment by delivering the conservation measures in the Marine and Coastal Access Act and hope to see further improvements in the next report as we gain the benefits from Marine Conservation Zones.”

The full report can be found here

The Government also launched consultations yesterday on Marine Act implementation, seeking views on the Marine Policy Statement, Marine Planning System and Marine Licensing. The BES will be responding to these consultations (deadline 13 October) and more information can be found on our website.

Climate change Ministers from UK, France and Germany have kicked off a joint initiative to push the EU to move from its current 20% target to a 30% emissions cut by 2020 – in line with commitments made in the Coalition Agreement. The three countries simultaneously published an article outlining the economic benefits for increasing Europe’s targets.

The Secretary of State, Chris Huhne, was clear that the current target was “not sufficient” in allowing business investment in green technologies, and risks “putting Europe in the global slow lane of maximising low carbon economic opportunities.” “Europe’s economic competitors are not hanging back’, the article warns.

The message, however, is positive. “We are convinced that Europe has the capability – but it does not yet have the right incentives for changing investment patterns.”

The full article can be read here.

Booking has now opened for the 2010 British Science Festival, taking place in Birmingham from 13- 19 September.

Explore a virtual landscape with the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and the BES, or hear experts discuss how ecology and green design will help us tackle the challenges of food, energy and water security in the ‘Landscapes of the Future’ session, in partnership with the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.

Join the team from the Virtual Landscape Theatre from 14 – 17 September to run. walk or fly through a virtual simulation of upland landscapes and explore how development may affect these into the future. Electronic audience voting allows you to express your preference about the possible futures which you’d like to see in 50 years or so. Admission is free.

Our expert panellists will run a public discussion on ‘landscapes of the future’ from 10am – 12pm on 14th September. Join a landscape architect, urban ecologist and specialists in nature’s life support services to discuss how our landscapes can balance the multiple demands on them – from food, fuel, housing, transport, demand for water and climate change – now and to 2030. Can our landscapes help us to tackle this ‘perfect storm’ of competing demands, as discussed at length by the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof. Sir John Beddington? Admission £5.00.

Find out more about the programme at this year’s British Science Festival – the largest festival of its kind in Europe.

Yesterday saw the launch of the ‘TEEB for Business’ report at the first annual Global Business of Biodiversity (GBOB) symposium, at the Excel Centre in London. The BES policy team was there, with other members of the Natural Capital Initiative secretariat, to see Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB study leader, unveil the report to an assembled audience of policy-makers, representatives from NGOs and business leaders. Although business still has a long way to go in terms of recognising the importance of biodiversity and sustainability in supply chains, it was encouraging to see that at least some companies have taken this to heart – and are showing leadership to others.

The Chief Executive of Rio Tinto delivered a presentation outlining why he thought that investing in biodiversity made sound business sense. Business is clearly first and foremost about the ‘bottom line’; economics and the profit margin. However, in order to maintain access to land and resources in perpetuity, Rio Tinto seems to have recognised that this depends on creating a reputation as a company which is not simply going to trash the environment to achieve the biggest profit, but on developing a reputation for ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. CEO Tom Albanese said that Rio Tinto wants to create a ‘net positive impact’ for biodiversity.

Gavin Neath, Vice-President for Global Communications at Unilever delivered a presentation showcasing the company’s work in environmental stewardship. Unilever solely owns, and sustainably manages, its tea plantations. Flagging its sustainable practices up to the consumer has resulted in a consumer perception that tea processed in this way actually tastes better, delivering financial returns for the company.

A common theme to emerge from the day was the need for better communication and a ‘new language’ around the concepts of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This was perhaps most strongly illustrated by Pavan Sukhdev, who said that if he could have the opportunity once more he would re-name the TEEB study, ‘TEN’, the ‘Economics of Nature’. Pavan highlighted one of the next steps in the TEEB project, ‘TEEB for People’, which will see the creation of a website with social networks spinning off from this. It’s hoped that the public will engage with this resource – but there’s no doubt that either developing a new common language to describe the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, or working out means to better communicate using existing terminology, is vital.

Secretary of State at Defra, Caroline Spelman, delivered an address in the afternoon. The Minister used the opportunity to announce that in August, Defra will start a process of mapping the UK’s supplies of palm oil. The Government will work with companies and NGOs to produce a plan to shift the UK’s use of palm oil onto a sustainable footing. This is very encouraging. Less encouraging was the Minister quoting a figure of £3 million to support the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), where previously government had committed a much higher sum. The Minister’s answer to a query from the audience referenced the very difficult economic times ahead and the budget cuts which Government departments are being asked to make. By the Comprehensive Spending Review in the autumn it will be clear how other commitments are to be down-scaled: the conservation and ecological science communities have a role to play in advising Government in how to prioritise the cuts, making sure that harsh economic times to come do not compromise advances in environmental protection.

Overall, an interesting meeting. The role that business can play in highlighting the importance of biodiversity conservation, leading the way for consumers, was clear. The next steps must be to move from the conference centre to the board room of those companies not represented: to cease ‘preaching to the converted’ and to engage proactively with those harder to reach.

David Willetts, Minister for Science and Universities, today delivered his first major speech on the Government’s vision for science in the UK, the Royal Institution. The BES listened as the Minister outlined his priorities for science, and announced a one year delay to the Research Excellence Framework to allow HEFCE to better assess the results of the ‘impact’ pilot exercise.

The Minister began by highlighting that 2010 had so far seen a ‘great summer for science’, with the Royal Society’s hiigh profile ‘See Further’ festival, Lord Rees’ delivery of the Reith Lectures and BBC programming such as Prof. Brian Cox’s ‘Wonders of the Solar System’. He then went on to reiterate his commitment to the dual support system for universities and the Haldane Principle – that decisions about where to allocate research spend are made at arms-length from governments. He recognised the argument that many in the scientific community, including CaSE, have made; that other countries have responded to the recession by increasing their spend on science, as a pathway to growth, but stated that these countries’ deficits were less than that of the UK. He stressed however that Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Chancellor George Osborne both understood the value of science to re-balancing the economy.

The Minister said that the coalition government had so far ‘been good’ for science; with Professor Sir John Beddington, Government Chief Scientific Advisor, updating guidelines on the use of evidence in policy-making, and the new principles on the treatment of independent scientific advice now referred to in the Ministerial Code. However, not unexpectedly, he could not give a commitment to levels of funding which science and HE will receive into the future: this is an announcment which must wait until the Comprehensive Spending Review later this year.

The second part of the Minister’s speech focused on the economic case for investing in science, before moving on to outline his priorities for science in the coming months and years. Public spend on science has to stand up to public scrutiny, the Minister said, and although sceptical of the ‘impact agenda’ as currently framed, the Minister sees a need to demonstrate and measure the impact of research – on the economy, policy or society. A researcher cannot see publishing a certain number of papers in a particular peer-reviewed journal as their only measure of success, or impact, he stressed later during Q and A. Hence the delay of the REF for a year, to allow assessment of the impact pilot but also to learn from schemes being developed in the USA. The Society of Biology welcomed the delay during the Q and A session.

The Minister outlined his support for ‘clusters’, which he described as ‘low risk environments for high risk’ endeavours, singling out Dundee and the computer games development industry ‘clustering’ around Abertay University. He criticised the commonly voiced notion that the ‘British invent but fail to capitalise on’ discoveries. Instead, he said, the UK has demonstrated its capacity to capitalise on the research which happens elsewhere. Science investment matters, he said, partly because it increases the absorptive capacity of the UK: our ability to apply science here and as such reap rewards for our economy.

Transparency on the part of scientists, with greater sharing of data, was also highlighted as vital, and the Minister also commented that he had raised the importance of libel law reform with the Ministry of Justice: an importance which had been recognised.

Finally, the Minister outlined three priorities for his portfolio, which will form the focus of policy:
1) Investing in shared research facilities (research platforms)
2) Government playing a greater role in procurement (for example, to support small and medium sized enterprises – SMEs)
3) Public competitions for new technologies.

On this last point, the Minister singled out the X Prize Foundation for supporting the development of sub-orbital space flight. The Government might not set the prize – this could be driven by the marketplace.

Overall, the Minister seemed genuinely committed to the importance of science and technology. He recognises the worth of science and the importance of evidence-based policy. Yet, it seemed clear too that the case for investment in science still needs to be made to the Treasury. The Minister was pragmatic, stating throughout that cuts will be necessary and at one point that the challenge is to demonstrate ‘hard headed economic returns’ to enable maintenance of basic science.

Following a public consultation the government’s Chief Scientific Advisor Sir John Beddington has last week published the updated guidelines on the use of scientific advice within government.

The guidelines highlight key issues fed in by consultees, such as the importance of horizon scanning, engagement with representative bodies of the scientific community, using international sources of advice and, in particular, advice on engineering. Sir Beddington stressed the centrality of engineering in addressing today’s challenges, whilst Universities and Science Minister David Willetts spoke of the importance of making policy decisions using hard evidence.

Other recommendations to departments and policy makers included:
- identifying issues requiring advice and/or public engagement early;
- widening the range experts providing advice;
- adopting an open and transparent approach and publishing evidence quickly;
- explaining publicly the rationale behind policy decisions, especially where they are inconsistent with advice; and
- working collectively across government to adopt a joined-up approach.

More information on the work of the Government Office for Science, including Prof Beddington’s ‘Perfect Storm’ paper on the 21st century’s policy challenges, is on the BIS website.

See the British Ecological Society and Biochemical Society joint response to the consultation on the Guidelines.