United Kingdom

An ideological breakthrough on feed-in tariffs in Britain

In a startling reversal, Britain’s Labour government has put on the table a feed-in tariff proposal for “microgeneration.” The proposed feed-in tariffs will pay homeowners, farmers, and community groups for the electricity they generate with renewable energy. The move represents an ideological breakthrough. Long an ardent supporter of Renewable Obligation Certificate trading systems and plain […]

Identifying one of the great misunderstandings of our political age

“In tough economic times, some people will ask whether we should retreat from our climate change objectives. In our view, it would be quite wrong to row back, and those who say we should misunderstand the relationship between the economic and environmental tasks we face.” — Ed Miliband, U.K. energy and climate change secretary

European Union sticks by GHG plan, United Kingdom goes for 80 percent cut

Eastern Europeans and others seeking to use the current financial meltdown as an excuse to roll back climate commitment have failed (for now). The BBC reports: European Union leaders agreed to stick to their plan to cut greenhouse gases — despite a surprise demand by Poland and six other member states to drop them to […]

How modern cities made themselves livable

Financial deregulation has obviously been a disaster. Perhaps we are entering a new era, one in which it is acceptable to talk about the positive actions that governments can take. A friend of mine, Bryn Barnard, has written about how government first stepped in to provide a minimally healthy environment — in a chapter about […]

The financial crisis could open up new opportunities for sustainability thinking

It’s official: we haven’t had a financial crisis like this since at least 1603, and commentators here in the U.K. seem to agree that things can never be the same again. Capitalism, if not in question, will be a very different beast from now on. Think donkey on short leash. It’s all a bit frightening, […]

U.K. eco-watchdog: No more coal without CCS

The U.K.’s environmental watchdog agency, aptly called the Environment Agency, has called for the government to prevent the construction of any further coal plants without carbon capture and sequestration. This has always struck me as the issue that every green group and smart politician should rally around. Nobody, literally nobody, openly defends building dirty coal […]

U.K. Ministry of Defence: Global warming goes on, deniers are deluded

The U.K.’s Met Office issued a blunt statement on Tuesday, “Global warming goes on,” that begins: Anyone who thinks global warming has stopped has their head in the sand. The evidence is clear — the long-term trend in global temperatures is rising, and humans are largely responsible for this rise. Global warming does not mean […]

Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are pursuing dramatically different environmental strategies

Over the past decade, the current British government has taken a crack at devolution, giving Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales a level of operational government unseen for a century or more. The fledgling administrations of these three “devolved nations” have embarked on very different policy trajectories on the environment, among other policy areas. The sustainable […]

Kingsnorth six acquitted in U.K. for coal-plant protest and vandalism

Good news from the U.K.: The Kingsnorth Six were acquitted by a Crown Court jury. They were members of a group of 23 Greenpeace volunteers who had attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power plant, specifically the six were the ones painting the smokestack with “Gordon Bin It” when interrupted by the police. Their […]