The Coalition Government’s Environmental Policy: ConDem'ned to Failure?

The Coalition Government’s Environmental Policy:

SECOND NATIONAL BRITISH STUDIES CONFERENCEUNITED KINGDOM

AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION 2010UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW, SEPTEMBER 15TH - 16TH, 2010

Radoslaw Stech & Gavin HarperBRASS, Cardiff University

15th September 2010

‘ned to failure?

The Coalition Government’s

Environmental Policy:

‘ned to failure?

‘ned to failure?

The Coalition Government’s

Environmental Policy:

The Context

•Declining North Sea Oil•Need to control carbon emissions•Need for clean industrial growth•Desire to slowdown growth in transport related emissions

Source: Daily Telegraph

Do Blue & Yellow Really Make Green?

?

Policy Cooperation

The Departments:

DEFRA food, water, air quality, SD... – Caroline Spelman (Con)

CLG planning, regeneration, housing... – Eric Pickles MP (Con)

DECC energy... – Chris Huhne MP (Lib Dem)

DfT infrastructure – Phillip Hammond MP (Con)

Treasury taxes – George Osborne MP (Con)

UK Environmental Policy

Environmentalism & Environmental Justice

How dare you solve your

environmental problems at my expense!

“In the contemporary world the extinction of the species Homo sapiens would be beneficial to the Earth's Community of Life as a whole.” Taylor’s Respect for Nature

EA working definition of environmental justice

- Distributive justice is concerned with how environmental ‘goods’ (e.g. access to green space) and environmental ‘bads’ (e.g. pollution and risk) are distributed amongdifferent groups and the fairness or equity of this distribution;

-Procedural justice is concerned with the fairness or equity of access to environmental decision-making processes and to rights and recourse in environmental law;

- Policy justice is concerned with the principles and outcomes of environmental policydecisions and how these affect different social groups.

Detoxifying the Conservative Brand

Pre Election:• Change of Image / Logo /

Leader• Much play made of

“green” initiatives, but little in the way of substantive claims.

• Criticism of ‘airbrushing’

UK’s First Green MP Elected

Climate Change Policy

Climate change policy has not changed under the coalition government.

The Climate Change Act 2008

Sustainable Development Policy

The shared principles of sustainable development in the UK. They apply to the UK Government, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Administration. For a policy to be sustainable, it must respect all five principles.

‘Securing the Future: Delivering UK Sustainable Development Strategy’, Cm 6467, 2005.

Big Society

Give communities more powers Encourage people to take an active role in their communities Transfer power from central to local government Support co-ops, mutuals’, charities and social enterprises Publish government data

Challange: The Aarhus Convention

All politicians have warm words on the environment, and all governments talk about leading the shift to a new green economy. This government is going to do things differently. We won’t try and

dazzle you with green gimmicks. We want to impress you by quietly getting

on with the job

Quiet Green Revolution?

Doesn’t sound all that ‘revolutionary’

RDAs employ about 3,400 people

RDAs => LEPs

• Local enterprise partnerships will replace regional development agencies.

• Is ‘local’ the correct scale on which to support every initiative?

• Concerns about co-ordinating regional strategy.

•£80million loan axed•180 Jobs would have been created•Put Britain’s ‘nuclear ambitions’ in jeopardy.•BUT... Arguably “corporate welfare for the nuclear industry.

Nuclear Renaissance?????????????????????

Under Threat

Funding the green revolution

• CBI criticised coalition: uncertainty over future policies was holding back up to £150bn of predominantly low-carbon investment

• Will the austerity measures and cuts undermine confidence in the government’s commitment to green investment?

I agree with Ed!

•Martin Wolf Financial "Ed Balls's critique is right•Sunday Times. "An awful thought, but what if Ed Balls is right?"

Challenging the Cuts

Conclusions

• In terms of environmental policies, there are no barriers to parties’ co-operation;

• UK policy will be largely driven by the EU;• ‘Big Society’ can help achieving fair

environmental policies. • There is one major difference – views on

nuclear power development;• A challenge: environmental justice/ localism

(NIMBYs)

Conclusions

• Will a culture of ‘localism’ lead to the rise of ‘NIMBY’ (Not In My Back Yard) protests.

• Is ‘local’ the correct scale on which to support some initiatives? Does ‘local’ vehicle charging infrastructure make sense?

• A slowdown in the economy will naturally have the effect of reducing emissions (10:10) but is this desirable?

Conclusions

• Economic slowdown may result in decrease in carbon emissions – but is this desirable or beneficial to long term sustainability.

• Britain needs to grow it’s industrial base but in a clean way.

• Are cuts based on detailed analysis or ideological grounds?– A lack of systemic analysis– Policy objectives undermined by lack of funding

Thank you

Radoslaw Stechstechr@cf.ac.uk

Gavin Harperharperg@cf.ac.uk