That's what you call action
They’re doing it in California. They’re doing it in New Zealand. They’re even doing it in Canada, a country rarely heralded for its environmental concern and one that, despite being amongst the first to sign, all but ditched the Kyoto climate change accord in 2006
Yet the UK has refused to do it. This is the UK set to boast the world’s first climate change legislation. And it is the UK that only today has forced the EU to consider cutting VAT on eco-friendly goods like fridges and washing machines.
But it is also the UK that will next month force us to buy more biofuel, despite the habitat devastation biofuel manufacture is causing worldwide.
Moreover, it is the same UK that this week refused to rule out new coal-fired power stations, with Industry Minister, John Hutton, all but sanctioning ten new plants before there is any chance of underground storage of their carbon emissions.
Yet the Canadian government on Monday ruled that from 2012, no new coal-fired plants will be built until they are fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, a move which effectively bans coal until at least 2020, saving millions of tonnes of CO2.
This follows the decision of the New Zealand government last October to all but outlaw new fossil-fuel power stations. And under the ‘California Standard’ – or Low-Carbon Fuel Standard passed by the state in January last year - power companies can only generate electricity in California if their operations meet minimum efficiency levels. This rules out coal until CCS is available.
That’s what you call action to tackle climate change.
If the UK government must use coal, the dirtiest fuel source there is, then it must also wait until CCS facilities are up and running. There is no rationale for using coal again until its climate damage can be contained.
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