This week in The Independent there are reports of a major split opening up in the Coalition Government between the Chancellor, George Osbourne and the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne.
The Chancellor has said that he does not want the UK to “lead the way” in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions stating that, to do so would somehow put the UK at a disadvantage within the EU. A growing faction within the Tory party seem to think that green policies will damage the “economic recovery”.
In a recent speech Chris Huhne has indirectly attacked the Chancellor saying:
“We are not going to save our economy by turning our back on renewable energy.”
So, is this a return to the good old Thatcherite days of tax cuts for the ultra rich while the rest of the country burns? Possibly, yes. At this stage it looks like it is down to the Lib Dems to keep things on track. Chris Huhne may not be able to save the planet, but hopefully he can prevent the Tories from destroying the UK.
Europe is floundering amid economic and political turmoil and now is the opportunity for the UK to plant the seeds of the next major economic boom – The Climate Revolution.
Just as the Industrial and more recently the Information Technology revolution did, this new era will see massive opportunities for those nations that set the right environment for businesses to evolve and thrive. Lets get this straight… paying lip service by tweaking a tax here and there will not cut it. We need green policies that go well beyond those we have now to create the environment in which large scale renewable energy rollout can happen, such as automatic permitted development rights for all small to medium scale renewable generation and a much simpler planning process for mid to large scale.
Climate Change is one of most important issues facing humanity in the next 50 years and according to the United Nations, the sooner we address it the cheaper it will be. Not only will reducing carbon emissions sooner save money in mitigating climate change, but those who do will lead the way in developing and owning the new technologies that result.
The answer is amazingly clear – rather than dump billions of pounds of tax payers money into quantitative easing (which has not and is not really working) spend it investing in green technology and fund the schemes that result in inward and foreign investment into the UK. In sorting out our own house…. we’ll have developed the tools to sell others.
By way of a concrete example, Denmark was one of the first European countries to roll out government grants for wind energy. Is it any surprise that the worlds biggest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas is Danish? In 2010 Vestas turnover was nearly €7bn.
The UK will either be on the train or run over by it. George Osbourne’s paymasters will not care one way or the other, but you might.