P O L I T I C S
Ignorance and Ineptitude
Economics and ecology need to be recognised as the two complementary faces of the same coin, writes environmentalist Tony Juniper
Sometimes it feels as if the last 40 years never took place. Recent pronouncements in relation to how environmental challenges relate to economics provide a case in point. The idea that looking after Nature is bad for the economy is one that is less and less heard these days. Such a fringe view, one that flies so squarely in the face of a mounting body of evidence, would normally raise more amusement than it would concern, except that recently this view has come from George Osborne, the leader of the UK’s finance ministry, a figure at the very heart of government.
In October 2011 he told his party conference that saving the planet risked “putting our country out of business”. He went on to claim how “a decade of environmental laws and regulations are piling costs on the energy bills of households and companies.” Osborne evidently believed the UK was doing too much to protect the environment, and for economic reasons should do less. Unfortunately this outburst was not a one-off.
A month later, in his Autumn Statement, Osborne lashed out at the EU Habitats Directive, claiming that it placed “ridiculous costs on British businesses”. So convinced of this conclusion was he that he asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to conduct a review of the Directive.
He then spent much of this year trying to slash the support available for onshore wind energy in the UK. This industry, having been under attack from more than 100 Conservative MPs, seemed ripe for a reduction in the level of official support it received, to the point whereby investment in the technology would stop, in the process ending expansion in what is for the UK the cheapest way of generating renewable electricity. While the onshore wind power industry was able to muster sufficient support to at least temporarily win this particular battle, other renewable energy technologies remain vulnerable to Treasury scepticism, for example geothermal power and anaerobic digestion (for more on which see page 12).
And as the government prepares its landmark legislation on electricity market reform, the Treasury is opposed to the new targets that would limit the amount of carbon released for each unit of electricity generated. If the UK is to actually achieve the goal of its world-leading legislation on climate change, then many experts believe this will be one vital tool to doing so.
Of course Osborne has been subject to some bitter criticism. Sir John Lawton, one of the UK’s leading ecological scientists and a former chair of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, called the chancellor an “idiot” for remarks he made about wildlife protection laws. And not only have leading experts exposed Osborne’s failure to grasp the facts, but so did an official review that he commissioned himself.
The Defra assessment of the Habitats Directive demanded by Osborne found that the claim it was some massive burden on business simply was not the case, and that in over 99% of cases where a project was affected by this directive there was no problem at all. And there was an ironic twist, with this review finding that the tiny minority of development projects that did have difficulties were onshore wind power developments. The very industry that so many Conservative MPs are hell-bent on destroying.
But why does George Osborne say what he does? Some on the right of politics (though not all by any means) are environmental sceptics, but does this explain why he is at such pains to set the green agenda back so dramatically? And if it is not pure political ideology that takes Osborne in his particular direction of travel, then what does?
The influence of former Chancellor Nigel Lawson could be part of it. He and Osborne are close, and what comes out of Osborne often sounds spookily similar to views that come from Lawson, a well-known environmental sceptic who set up his own foundation, which campaigns to discredit climate change science.
People closer still to Osborne, and with reasons to be wary of some aspects of the green agenda, are members of his own family. His father-in-law is Lord Howell, a foreign office minister with responsibility for international energy issues in the Lords. He is also president of the British Institute of Energy Economics, which has major gas and oil companies as corporate members.
Then there is the right-wing press, and the headlines carried by the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph that have among other things dramatically exaggerated the costs of meeting environmental goals, particularly in relation to renewable energy. While from the outside it might seem unbelievable that policy could be led by such ill-informed propaganda, this kind of coverage can have more impact than is often credited, especially when it is welcomed by so many back-bench Conservative MPs. Many Conservative MPs do not like renewable energy,
Issue 275
Resurgence & Ecologist
5
