Adair Turner on tackling climate change during a downturn |
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Lord Adair Turner is Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, a
role which he combines with his work Chairing the Financial Services
Authority. A management consultant by training, Lord Turner has worked
in business for many years, previously working as Head of the CBI and
has a longstanding interest in climate change.
How do you think the current economic crisis will effect efforts to tackle climate change?The
downturn will have two effects on the climate. Firstly, it will lead to
a reduction in emissions as consumers use less energy and buy less.
This is obviously good for the environment but also gives us a false
sense of achievement if this is not backed up by real policy change and
action by Government. Secondly, we have seen already that investment in
some renewable energy projects has been reduced or cut. This is a very
worrying sign, we need to invest in the green economy now as a way of
both stimulating the economy and tackling climate change.
Why should we care about climate change now?We
should care about it now more than ever. Thousands of the world’s most
eminent scientists met in Copenhagan last month and they agreed that
the impacts that climate change is having on our environment is worse
than they had originally predicted. If we carry on emitting harmful
greenhouse gases at the rate that we are doing, we are at risk of
creating dangerous climate change. This will have incredibly harmful
impacts on people around the world, particularly in developing
countries as sea levels rise, much land becomes uninhabitable, crop
yields fail and so on. In our country, we could be at risk of suffering
from more major damage from flooding and from hotter summers which will
cause more people to die from heat stroke or asthma as the air quality
decreases. What do you think can be done to encourage continued investment in building a low-carbon economy?I
think that Government should consider the recommendations that we set
out in our first report by putting in place a range of financial and
policy measures that will stimulate investment in renewable energy
projects so that we can decarbonise the electricity sector, encourage
innovation and investment in technologies like electric cars and
subsidise a massive project to better insulate our homes and buildings
so that energy is used more efficiently. They can do this by working
closely with business and industry and by encouraging behaviour change
in individuals.
Are you hopeful that a global agreement will be reached on climate change either at the G20 meeting next week/ at Copenhagan?I
am more hopeful than I have ever been that this year we will finally
reach a global agreement. I think people around the world have
realised that we really do not have any time to waste on this. I am
visiting Washington later this week to meet with our American
counterparts to talk about climate change, we have also just visited
Brussels to do the same.
Do you take any action yourself to reduce your carbon footprint?Yes,
I have managed to reduce my footprint by about 25% since it was first
assessed. It is currently at 22 tonnes of CO2 which is still too high.
I have had solar panels installed in my cottage in the country for hot
water and I am planning to get my house in London properly insulated. I
drive a hybrid car, a Toyota Prius. Wherever I can, I use the train to
go on foreign holidays and I often cycle to work. |
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