Best Foot Forward

Since the mid 1980s, humanity has been demanding ecological services faster than the planet can regenerate them, a condition known as ecological overshoot. “Our demand for natural resources is, quite simply, outstripping supply.” Says BFF’s Technical Director Craig Simmons. “The evidence is all around us; the concentration of pollutants in our atmosphere is increasing, forests are shrinking, fish stocks are being depleted, potable water is becoming scarcer and top soil is being eroded.” As a big consumer of natural resources, the UK economy went into overshoot much earlier in the year; May 22nd. Less that six months into the year, more resources were consumed than the UK could sustainably provide throughout a whole year.

The film can be viewed for free online at www.home-2009.com.

The Prince contrasted interdependent natural systems that work bottom-up by developing strong roots to support the whole, compared to the current globalised economic model that imposes a top-down economic and cultural monoculture. The Prince proposes that this dominant model is contrary to the more complex ecological balances developed by nature, and therefore poses a significant threat.  

UK residents can watch/listen on BBC iPlayer here.

The Bill only passed by the narrowest of margins (219 to 212 votes) and was opposed by many leading environmental groups. Greenpeace called it “a victory for coal industry lobbyists, oil industry lobbyists, agriculture industry lobbyists, steel and cement industry lobbyists, among many others.” Friends of the Earth similarly highlighted the hijacking of the complex 1,300 page Bill by big business; “the House of Representatives remains so corrupted by special interests and special interest cronies… that it is thwarting the will of the American people”.

Maybe all is not lost. By publicising the Bill’s serious flaws environmentalists are clearly aiming to secure amendments to the Bill  in the Senate. To have backed the original text would have weakened their case and sent the wrong message to legislators.

As it stands the Bill has so many concessions that it cannot hope to deliver the promised carbon savings; a 17% reduction on a 2005 baseline by 2020 and 83% reductions by 2050. When the scheme is introduced in 2012 a carbon permit will cost an estimated $13 per tonne, the equivalent of adding somewhere between $15 to $40 on to an individual’s annual motoring costs – hardly dramatic.

Arguably, the more fundamental issue is whether a market-based system can effectively deliver change full stop. After all, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme has hardly been a success with carbon prices falling at just the time when they should be incentivising efficiency improvements. Since the damage of one tonne of carbon dioxide remains the same regardless of its market price, isn’t it more appropriate to tax carbon at source rather than leave pricing to the whim of the market?

Most leading environmentalists agree. It is the politicians who need convincing.

As the article rightly points out, the basic concepts behind carbon fooptprinting have been around for decades - but have just been called something different (i.e. "the result of the life cycle impact category indicator global warming potential"). However something about the carbon footprint - in combination with the rise of climate change as the number one environmental challenge - has brought this subset of life-cycle analysis to the masses.

BFF has applied the principles of LCA but not the popular models and software packages which often mask often unjustifiable assumptions. With the focus of some in the LCA community being on the ‘7th decimal place’ of accuracy, it tends to miss the point that if we are needing to cut carbon emissions of 80%, even the first decimal point is largely irrelevant.

The author correctly highlights many of the methodological issues that have dogged the development of carbon footprinting standards, such as PAS2050 (many of which have not been satisfactorily resolved) ... but he also admits that LCA practitioners might learn something from this new breed of life-cycle thinkers. In short, it could encourage a re-assessment of some of the fundamental assumptions which have become accepted and unchallenged.

As environmental accountants - but not 'traditional' LCA practitioners, BFF welcomes this dialogue between the two approaches and is certain that both groups can use their common aim - to capture life-cycle impacts - to strengthen both disciplines.

The article can be accessed via SpringerLink.

The Quality Mark can be used for offsets where it has been shown that they meet the specifications defined by the Scheme. In turn, individuals and businesses wishing to purchase offsets can use the Quality Mark to identify those offsets that meet key quality criteria and that provide the assurance that emissions are properly offset tonne-for-tonne. See the current list of approved offsetting organisations here.

March 2009 saw the publication of the Draft Order for Implementation for consultation and the rather easier to read Draft User guide to the scheme. If you are one of the 5000 businesses, now is the time to start preparing. The User guide is at www.defra.gov.uk/carbonreduction and if you need some help finding your way around the scheme, give us a call.

This is the focus of the ‘Green New Deal’. Continuous economic growth is inherently unsustainable in a resource constrained world, so the model to which humans subscribe and aspire needs to change. The Green New Deal – named in recognition of Roosevelt’s New Deal of the Great Depression – has been developed as a 21st century opportunity to redirect the economy to a financially and environmentally viable future.

Produced by leading thinkers including Tony Juniper, Jeremy Leggett, Caroline Lucas and Andrew Simms, the Green New Deal tackles the financial crunch, climate crunch and global energy crunch. The Green New Deal espouses making ‘every building a power station’, training a ‘carbon army’ of workers to drive transformation and imposing closer regulation of the financial institutions. The Green New Deal was presented in Oxford on 30th January, and the document is available for download here.