Download or read book Pre budget 2006 and the Stern Review written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-19 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of the Committee's annual inquiry into the Treasury's Pre-Budget Report (PBR) and the progress made towards achieving environmental objectives with regards to its tax and spending policies, this publication examines the PBR's fiscal policy announcements in relation to the aviation, motoring, waste and energy sectors, focusing on the findings of the Stern Review of the economics of climate change (ISBN 9780102944204) published in October 2006. Amongst the 40 conclusions and recommendations made, the Committee notes that the Stern Review highlights the central problem involved in efforts to address the effects of global warning, that is the need to take action now before the more serious effects have begun to be felt in order to benefit future generations, a problem that will be both practically and politically challenging. The Committee urges the Government to use the Stern Report in order to promote a better informed public discussion of the science of climate change, so that we can use the limited window of opportunity presently available to prevent greenhouse gases growing to dangerous levels beyond which there are risks of major irreversible impacts, and recognising the Stern Review's accompanying argument that the sooner the world begins to cut its emissions, the easier and less costly mitigation will become.
Download or read book Pre budget 2005 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee reports on the progress made by the Treasury in placing environmental objectives at the heart of its fiscal policies. This year's pre-Budget report (Cm. 6701, December 2005, ISBN 0101670125) is found to be inadequate, especially in the context of UK CO2 emissions actually increasing once more. No significant new measures were announced, and the Committee sees a continued slowing down of the Treasury's momentum in turning rhetoric into action. It believes the Treasury should redefine Air Passenger Duty (APD) as an environmental tax and that APD rates should more accurately reflect the carbon emissions of the flights to which they apply. Charging APD on flights rather than passengers could also act as an incentive to more efficient use of aviation fuel. The Committee also recommends action on aviation fuel duty, biofuels, car energy efficiency, steps to wean the economy off over-reliance on oil, stamp duty and council tax reductions for homes built or refurbished to high environmental standards. Each pre-Budget report should include figures on total revenue from the climate change levy, aggregates levy, and landfill tax. Although the Treasury accepts the principle of increasing taxes on "bads" rather than "goods" its reluctance for bold reform of the tax system mystifies the Committee. A Green tax Commission should be reconsidered, to develop a proper communications strategy to sell the environmental programme to the public. The Committee exhorts the Government to make moves on the climate change problem, as waiting for universal agreement is a recipe for stasis. Finally, the Committee regrets the Treasury's decision to abolish the Operating and Financial Review required from large companies, in that it appears to view sustainable reporting as an optional extra. It hopes that the proposed new business reviews will continue to require some form of social and environmental disclosure from companies.
Download or read book The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a follow-up to the Committees report (HCP 98, session 2002-03, ISBN 021501328X) which looked at the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which took place in Johannesburg in 2002. This report examines the UK implementation of the WDC commitments. A briefing by the National Audit Office (included in this report) reviews the co-operation between the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the UN Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The WSSD Table of Commitments should be regarded as a delivery mechanism, even though it was not drafted clearly enough. UK Government departments should incorporate WSSD commitments more vigorously into their departmental activities, and there should be more comprehensive and frequent progress reports for the benefit of Parliament, the general public, and the SDC.
Download or read book The Sustainable Development Strategy Report together with formal minutes written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2004 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorrect session years, 2002-03, given on title page
Download or read book The structure of government and the challenge of climate change written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-29 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report finds that, over the past decade, the Government has failed to rise fully to the domestic challenge of climate change, and its likely failure to reach its domestic target on reducing carbon dioxide emissions will have a damaging impact on the UK's international leadership role in reaching a post-Kyoto agreement. Although the Government has introduced some new arrangements for co-ordinating climate change policy more effectively across Whitehall, the scale of the challenge and the complexity involved in radically restructuring the economy to bring about the needed emission reduction targets requires further changes. There is a need for a strategic review of Government action to ensure that the leadership and responsibility for the development and delivery of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies is clear, as well as a new long-term policy framework to ensure that policies introduced today do not undermine our ability to reduce emissions in the future. The Committee also recommends that a new and authoritative body be established within the Cabinet Office to drive forward policy and to diminish the potential for a conflict of objectives between departments.
Download or read book Sustainable Development Reporting by Government Departments written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-28 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The regular annual report, the Sustainable Development in Government report, covering the whole of central government on environmental and sustainable development issues, is seen as a success in the "greening government" initiative since 1997, along with the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. Reporting by individual departments is less satisfactory. The Framework contains targets for departments on public reporting of their sustainable development impacts, but they are neither demanding nor specific. Some significant areas of departmental activity fall outside the parameters for sustainable development reporting, for example involvement in PFI contracts, and the Committee wants departments to be able to report on these matters. The UK Sustainable Development Strategy required all departments and executive agencies to produce an annual Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP) by December 2005. The Committee is disappointed that 14 departments and agencies did not meet this deadline. The Committee would like SDAPs to be published alongside the departmental annual reports in the spring. This report also includes, as an annex (p. 11-41), the National Audit Office briefing, detailing the findings of its review of annual sustainable development reporting by UK government departments in 2004.
Download or read book Reducing Carbon Emissions from Transport written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-08-07 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the challenges involved in efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the UK transport sector and makes recommendations to improve future progress, as part of its overall priority for the current Parliament of focusing on climate change issues. Topics discussed include: the Government's strategic priorities; measures to reduce carbon emissions from road transport, trains, water freight and aviation; emissions from developing economies; the future price and availability of oil. The report finds that reducing carbon emissions from transport is particularly challenging, given its dependence on oil, with transport being the only sector of the UK economy in which carbon emissions were higher in 2004 than the baseline year of 1990, and projected emissions likely to be higher in 2020 than in 1990. Amongst the report's 66 conclusions and recommendations, the Committee raises concerns over the lack of consistency and accuracy in methods used by the Government to calculate emissions projections; and highlights the need for more decisive action to actively encourage modal shift towards lower carbon modes of transport (such as trains, buses and low carbon cars and lorries) and to discourage marginal car and plane journeys. It recommends the introduction of a national road-user charging scheme as soon as technically possible, and a new policy to enforce speed limits; and an increase in air passenger duty (APD) and taxes on domestic flights. The report also calls for better local rail services and the need to make rail fare and ticketing structures simpler and more transparent in order to encourage greater use of rail services; and the need for a public information campaign to raise awareness about the reality and dangers of climate change and a cross-party approach to the measures required to tackle it.
Download or read book Trade development and environment written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05-23 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Audit Committee established a sub-committee to explore concerns that Government policy on trade and development was not adequately incorporating the need for sustainable development and environmental protection. The series of inquiries have scrutinised DFID, the WTO and UK trade policy, the Government's response to the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This is the final inquiry and it looks at the role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in delivering international environmental objectives. Although it is not often the lead department it has a role in building international support for policy objectives and it also has direct responsibility, with DFID, towards the environment in UK Overseas Territories. The report looks at: FCO policy; FCO capacity on the environment; international environment strategy; setting an example; UK Overseas Territories.
Download or read book Climate Change the UK Programme 2006 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication contains oral and written evidence taken before the Committee in their inquiry into the Government's Climate Change Programme announced in March 2006 (in its White Paper 'Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge' Cm. 6764, ISBN 0101676425). It includes contributions from officials from Defra, the Confederation of British Industry, the UK Sustainable Development Commission, Greater London Authority and local authorities.
Download or read book Emissions trading written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-22 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government has highlighted the importance of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in providing the cornerstone of its policy framework to tackle climate change. The Committee published its report on the Scheme (HCP 70, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780215032720) in March 2007, in which it made an assessment of the likely impact of the ETS to 2012 and its implication for the UK Climate Change programme. This report contains the Government's reply to the Committee's report, together with the Committee's thoughts on that reply. Amongst its findings, the Committee concludes that emissions trading can be very valuable, enabling emissions cuts to be made in the most economically efficient manner irrespective of location. However, their report raises ongoing concerns about i) the transparency of the reporting process on emissions trading and the risk that the complexities of such transactions might obscure whether they are reducing the full amount of emissions they ostensibly represent. It is especially important to get the transparency of reporting right at this stage, given the Government's plans under the forthcoming Climate Change Bill, to make use of international emissions trading within a national carbon budgeting system; and ii) the Government's presentation in some publications of the purchase of carbon credits by the UK as being, in practice, synonymous with reducing emissions within the UK, since buying emissions credits from other countries does not necessarily translate into cutting emissions, at home or abroad.
Download or read book Journals of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Keeping the Lights on written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-04-16 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keeping the lights On : Nuclear, renewables and climate change, sixth report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence
Download or read book Sustainable Housing written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-03-30 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on from a previous Committee report on sustainable housing issues (HCP 135-I, session 2004-05; ISBN 0215021517) published in January 2005, this report considers recent developments, including the Government's decision to increase the proposed rate of new build housing from 150,000 to 200,000 per year by 2016. Issues discussed include: the likely effectiveness of the proposed voluntary Code for Sustainable Homes in terms of achieving well-designed, energy efficient sustainable buildings; whether the Government is doing enough to promote the Code within the building industry and the general public; fiscal measures needed to reward higher building quality and greater environmental performance; funding for the timely provision of infrastructure such as transport links, schools and hospitals in main growth areas; security of water supplies and whether the Government, the Environment Agency and the water companies are doing enough to educate people about water efficiency. Overall, the Committee's report recognises the need for additional housing capacity but criticises the Government's failure to acknowledge the valid concerns about the environmental impacts of its house building plans, and its lack of planning to ensure the necessary supporting infrastructure is put in place to establish sustainable communities.
Download or read book Sustainable Timber written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-01-19 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests are a vital part of the world's ecosystem and support about 1.6 billion people worldwide. However, natural forests, which once accounted for 48 per cent of land cover, has now been reduced to 29 per cent and continues to decrease every year. These resources are irreplaceable and their loss has profound economic, social and environmental consequences. The Committee's report examines developments in UK public procurement practices since its earlier reports on sustainable public procurement (HCP 792-I, session 2001-02, ISBN 0215004671; published in July 2002 and HCP 266, session 2004-05, ISBN 0215024303; published April 2005). Issues discussed include: developments in the timber trade on illegal logging, recent revised Government guidance on procurement of legal and sustainable timber, the creation of a Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) within DEFRA and the EU's Forest Law, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan.
Download or read book International Challenge of Climate written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the issue of how to tackle climate change in an international context, in light of the fact that the UK will hold both the presidency of the EU and the chair of the G8 this year. Topics discussed include: the impact of global warming and emissions forecasts; the EU emissions trading system; the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol; options for a post 2012 framework; and UK government objectives for 2005.
Download or read book Beyond Stern written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-30 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is about how the Government: sets targets for reductions in UK green house gases; assess progress towards these targets by forecasting the likely levels of future emissions; choose policy instruments to deliver the requisite cuts in emissions; and revises its package of policies in the light of experience. It is two main parts, the first looks at the Climate Change Programme Review, whilst the second examines the proposed Climate Change Bill. The Climate Change Programme Review revealed a number of weaknesses in the UK climate change policy as it became apparent that the target of a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2010 would be missed. Revisions to the projection of emissions had not been done frequently enough, so by the time Ministers knew there were problems it was too late to introduce new measures. The programme is however likely to be rescued, somewhat, by Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which promises to deliver some real savings. The draft Climate Change Bill, alongside other developments such as the creation of the Office of Climate Change and requirements of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006, are broadly well designed and a far-reaching responses to these issues.
Download or read book Knowledge Policy and Expertise written by Susan E. Owens and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a fascinating analysis of expertise and policy formation, based on an in-depth study of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The Commission provided expert advice to governments from 1970 to 2011. Often portrayed as a 'scientific body', it was in fact an interesting hybrid, which embodied wide-ranging expertise. It delivered thirty-three reports, leaving a significant mark on British environmental policy, and having influence within Europe and beyond. Drawing upon an extensive literature and a wide range of sources, Knowledge, Policy, and Expertise provides the only full account of this important advisory body, covering a period in which the policy landscape was profoundly transformed. It offers a rich and detailed analysis of authority, autonomy, and trust; of the diverse roles that advisors can play and the networks within which they operate; and of the 'circumstances of influence' in which expert advice comes to be accepted gratefully, used strategically, absorbed in diffuse ways, or ignored. Above all, this book demonstrates the complexity and contingency of knowledge-policy relations, contributing substantially to a theory of expertise, and drawing out important implications for the future of 'good advice'.
