Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:15 pm Post subject: Can the market adequately address climate change? |
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As experts call for action now, the coalition withholds green funding and appeals to private enterprise
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One in three businesses in the UK has been significantly affected in the past three years by extreme weather such as flooding or drought, but fewer than one in four have done anything to protect itself, the Government says.
However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs admits there is no new money for adaptation programmes, and will place responsibility at the door of individuals, organisations and private businesses. They cite the example of Network Rail, which invested �750,000 in adaptation schemes that could realise savings of �1bn in 30 years.
Critics insist the coalition cannot sidestep responsibility. This weekend the Green Party annual conference in Birmingham has called for far greater government intervention. Caroline Lucas, the party's new MP and leader, said: "Adaptation to climate change will be a matter of life and death to many people, here in the UK and even more in the developing world. Droughts, storms and floods are getting worse.
"But Caroline Spelman is wrong to say inaction isn't an option. Inaction is this government's policy. The threat to individual life and to this country's way of life are greater from climate change than any other danger. We have the appeal for volunteers for the Home Guard, while the regular armed forces do nothing. And Dad's Army will not be enough to prevent climate change or deal with the consequences."
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At an environmental hustings in Bristol last week, the five Labour leadership contenders warned the coalition could not stand on the sidelines. Ed Balls told around 400 party members: "There is no way in which we can get the technologies, the investment, the change in the long term, if we leave it to the market. We need to intervene and support the technologies to get the jobs."
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