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Waiting for the Green Light

SERA believes that environmental issues must be central to Labour’s programme if we are to deliver the improvements in quality of life and social justice to which we all aspire.

In 2001 we published "A Charter for Sustainability: SERA’s agenda for action in the second term" setting out the ten goals that we believe are the most critical to this ambition.

So two years on how is Labour doing?

This is our traffic light review of Labour’s progress. A green light indicates that Labour is on course for delivery. Amber means that progress has been made but efforts need to be stepped up. Red designates no progress – or even decline.

Our analysis shows Labour on amber in 5 areas, with 3 green and 2 red.

There have been significant advances in the areas on energy policy, environmental taxation and organic farming.

However these are balanced by the continued disappointments in transport policy, where Labour has so far failed in its ambition to rejuvenate public transport, especially buses.

The prevalence of amber reflects our belief that Labour’s second term has sometimes been characterised by good intentions and admirable ambition – but with implementation often lacking the necessary force.

Indeed, the boldness of the commitment is often matched only by the timidity of the delivery.

This paper highlights Labour’s strengths and weaknesses, risks and opportunities. There is much to welcome, a great deal also to achieve.

However one thing is certain – Labour remains the only party in British politics with the ambition, commitment and ability to achieve sustainable development.

The Spring 2003 Energy White Paper placed climate change at the heart of UK energy policy and made the commitment to cut UK carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by about 2050. This marks a radical turning point for energy policy.

For example, emissions reductions from the Energy Efficiency Commitment are currently just 0.4 million tonnes of carbon per year rather than the 2.6 – 3.7 million tonnes initially assumed. Even doubling the Energy Efficiency Commitment – as set out in the Energy White Paper – will leave us off course.

The renewables obligation is also of great concern with doubt surrounding its ability to deliver the target of 10% renewables by 2010. Investors need long term certainty if renewables are to flourish - a 20% by 2020 target as part of the renewables obligation would be of help.

The target to generate 10GW of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) by 2010 also appears extremely doubtful. CHP installation is now effectively stalled at under half this figure, not least because of its detrimental treatment under the New Electricity Trading Arrangements.

Progress is being made towards the 20% target so the light is on amber. For Labour’s headline environmental commitment it should really be on green – but on current trends it could turn red.

The Energy White Paper’s visionary backing of substantial reductions in carbon emissions, the lack of any proposals for new nuclear build and the political weight behind renewables and energy efficiency merit a green light from SERA.

These commitments and the investment of £348 million in renewable energy projects over four years must be welcomed.

However two areas of concern remain for SERA.

Firstly, the door is still open to nuclear power. Whilst the White Paper did not contain proposals for building new nuclear power stations, neither did it rule out that new nuclear build might be necessary at some point in the future if we are to meet our carbon targets.

This is a missed opportunity. As the debacle over British Energy illustrated, the environmental and economic evidence confirms that the nuclear option just doesn’t stack up. Nuclear should be ruled out once and for all.

Our second concern is that without further funding, supportive market frameworks and regulation we will miss the targets for renewables and energy efficiency. And if we fail the pro-nuclear voices will be back shouting louder than ever.

We now have a once in a generation chance to meet our climate change targets with renewables and energy efficiency. For the light to remain on green Labour must seize the opportunity.

SERA is concerned that the Government’s target to increase annual bus journeys by 10% by 2010 could be met through the expected increases in London alone – so we have called for a more ambitious 25% increase, the equivalent of one billion new bus journeys.

Buses are key to providing low-income communities access to jobs and are the only alternative to the car for many journeys.

SERA gives a green light to the significant improvements being undertaken in London where the Mayor has introduced a range of bus-friendly policies and bus ridership is soaring.

But whilst passenger numbers have increased in some areas of the UK where imaginative Bus Quality Partnerships have been introduced, overall the record is poor and bus use in many parts of the country remains far too low.

Many areas lack a coherent bus network and there has been a marked reluctance to progress Bus Quality Contracts, which would allow local authorities to plan a network.

Labour has also been reluctant to dismantle the much-criticised competition laws, introduced by the Tories, which prevent bus operators from working in conjunction with each other to deliver a more coherent service.

There are some signs that buses may be creeping up the Government's transport agenda – for example the Social Exclusion Unit is calling for greater emphasis to be placed on buses.

However there has been insufficient Government action to improve bus services to a standard where it is likely that passenger bus journeys will increase by 25% by 2010. For this reason, the light remains stuck on red.

SERA is concerned that the 10 Year Transport Plan has earmarked £29 billion for road building with a further £13 billion on road maintenance - larger than even the Tories discredited £23 billion roads programme of the 1990s.

Progress so far? Little road building has taken place but neither has the money been switched to walking, cycling, buses and local rail. The government has made it clear that it is not its intention to concrete over the country - but is also arguing that, owing to a lack of road building for many years, some roads are going to be built. It appears particularly concerned about the capacity of our motorways.

But the real test will come with the government's response to the multi-modal studies. Initiated by Labour after its election in 1997, these studies examine the transport requirements of various areas across the country. Most of them are recommending a mix of public transport schemes and roads as the way forward. If the Government chose to build all the road schemes outlined in the multi-modal studies this would add up to a considerable amount of road building. Decisions either way will give a clear indication of its intentions.

But, for now, with no switch of resources into the sustainable modes, the light remains on red.

Since 2001 the momentum has slowed, mostly because of the political backlash to the Climate Change Levy from big business and to petrol taxes from farmers and lorry drivers.

The 2003 Budget announced that landfill tax would be increased to £35 per tonne. This rate is more than even SERA were lobbying for and must be warmly welcomed. The problem remains the speed of the increase - we would like to see a more rapid escalation with more revenues flowing into recycling schemes up front.

However SERA welcomes this measure as a further step in the right direction. We now urge the Government to pursue a similar approach with energy taxation, where further long-term signals are required. The Treasury should also be bold with the introduction of agricultural input taxes, such as pesticides and fertilisers, and continue its reform of fuel and vehicle taxation.

The light is on green – but procrastination will cause it to slip back to amber.

Incinerators are deeply unpopular and do nothing to improve the environmental productivity of the economy. Indeed, incineration produces similar greenhouse gas emissions to gas fired power stations and can send out perverse signals in favour of waste generation.

However, the government has not ruled out incineration as a method of waste disposal.

On the second, reform of the landfill tax credit scheme will allocate at least £110m a year to a reduction in the rate of growth of waste volumes, increased kerbside recycling and secondary market development. Not enough to reach the level of ambition required, but a welcome step nonetheless.

In response SERA is calling for enabling legislation to be introduced, allowing local authorities to pioneer variable charging schemes.

So the Chancellor deserves credit for initiating reforms that go some way towards fulfilling SERA’s objectives in waste policy. But it must be recognised that the scale of the problem requires tougher action and more revenues up front, especially in recycling and waste reduction projects.

Establish a mandatory requirement for company reporting against a handful of key environmental indicators.

For all but the most environmentally intensive businesses this will exclude key environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste. For most companies the financial outlay is simply not financially significant enough – even though the impacts are environmentally material to the rest of society.

SERA would like to see all companies that are required to produce an Operating and Financial Review under the government’s proposals mandated to disclose their CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions; total waste production and total water use.

If these proposals were adopted it would become mandatory for the UK’s largest 1,000 companies to report on three of the most significant aspects of their sustainability performance.

In Europe, five other EU member states have introduced mandatory reporting requirements. Many progressive companies already report these numbers illustrating their feasibility – yet over 250 companies embarrassingly ignored the Prime Minister’s challenge that all UK FTSE 350 companies should produce an environmental report by the end of 2001.

The time for boldness is clearly here. The light is on amber – but a hesitant response to the non-financial materiality group will turn it to red.

Following the publication of the Organic Action Plan SERA has decided to supersede the 30% organic target with the new headline objective contained in the Organic Action Plan.

Published in July 2002, the Organic Action Plan aims to more than double the proportion of UK-grown organic food to ensure that British farmers supply at least 70% of the UK organic market. Around three-quarters of organic food sold in the UK is currently imported.

This is major breakthrough and the result of real leadership on the part of government, who have recognised the significant environmental, social and economic benefits of organic farming. Produced with key stakeholders, the plan puts into practice many of the actions the organic movement has been promoting for over a decade.

These include higher payments for organic farmers, organic food for schools and hospitals and the agreement of supermarkets to increase the proportion of organic food they source from UK farmers.

The Government has also decided to introduce a new Organic Stewardship Scheme in 2 years time, with higher rates of payments and new conservation requirements.

The commitment from supermarkets is particularly important – they currently sell around four-fifths of all organic food and their support should result in a significant increase in the proportion of UK land managed organically.

Since publication of the neighbourhood renewal strategy in 2001 the government has devoted great effort to ‘turning around’ the most deprived parts of England, focusing on 88 of the most deprived local authority areas.

The strategy recognised the importance of physical improvement and set floor targets for air quality and waste management. In 2002 the Deputy Prime Minister published Living Places – Cleaner, Safer, Greener at the Urban Summit in response to the Treasury Cross Cutting Review into liveability issues. It recognised the importance of local environmental quality in deprived areas and the ODPM’s communities plan announced a number of new initiatives including a regional liveability fund and schemes for communities and local authorities.

The New Deal for communities’ project and the neighbourhood and street works are making significant local environmental improvements and tackling fear of crime and anti-social behaviour. Defra’s ‘warm front’ programme has been established to tackle fuel poverty.

However, there is little evidence of recognition by Government of environmental equity issues, or of the will to tackle environmental issues in our ‘worst estates’. With only two years remaining in which to deliver by 2005 this will be a real challenge. Much is still to be done if amber is to become green.