Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today, though it is an issue that can often be seen as being far removed from the voter. If you are on a waiting list for hospital treatment, or intimidated by antisocial behaviour, or worried as to how you will pay your council tax, the problem of global warming doesn’t tend to be an immediate threat. While most of us care about the environment, because of the many other issues in our lives, it isn’t always high on our personal agenda.
It is unfortunate that because of this background, global warming is sometimes seen as a middle class issue, an issue for people who can afford to buy more environmentally friendly products which cost more, or aren’t as affected by the day to day issues of health, education, and law and order.
But global warming affects us all; regardless of wealth, regardless of religion, regardless of education, if we do not address the problem, we will all suffer the consequences. It is therefore important that while we look to address problems in our public services, make our economy more vibrant, provide better opportunities for all, we can not ignore the impact we are making on the environment.
Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is essential as it keeps our planet habitable, but, by burning fuels such as coal, gas and oil, as well as cutting down trees, we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and as a result, temperatures are rising. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by a mammoth 31% since 1759, a rate of unprecedented increase in 20,000 years. As a result, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this increase in carbon dioxide has contributed to global surface temperatures increasing by 0.6 degrees over the 20th century. The IPCC have also estimated that by 2100 temperatures may be as much as 5.8 degrees higher than they were in 1990.
This might not seem that much of a difference, however when you consider that EU scientists have agreed that a change in temperature of more than 2 degrees would be catastrophic, putting 3 billion people at risk of flooding, as melting ice caps cause sea levels to rise, the potential impact can begin to be understood.
In Al Gore’s recent film, “An Inconvenient Truth”, he warns of the terrible consequences if global warming continues unabated:
• Deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years -- to 300,000 people a year.
• Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.
• Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense.
• Droughts and wildfires will occur more often.
• The Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050.
• More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.
• There is no hiding from, or ignoring global warming – it is already happening and the evidence is overwhelming and undeniable:
• glaciers are melting,
• the number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled over the past 30 years from an average of 10 a year in the 1970s, to 18 a year now. Category 4 and 5 hurricanes made up about 20% of all hurricanes in the 1970s, but over the last decade they accounted for about 35% of these storms.
• At least 279 species for plants and animals are responding to global warning by moving closer to the poles
Much nearer to home anyone with an interest in gardening is seeing at first hand changes in plant cycles. I remember brambling in September, not the end of August, which is when they ripened this year.
However we should not be resigned to this. Yes, global warming is a huge issue with massive implications for civilisation, but the good news is we can by our own efforts contribute to solutions; indeed we have a moral obligation to do so. We can to work together, sharing responsibility between individuals, government and business to ensure that the next generation can enjoy a planet that is sustainable.
I will be the first to admit that the Scottish Executive has made some progress in cutting emissions from Scotland. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Britain committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Scotland has already met this commitment as the latest statistics show that emissions from Scotland were 14% below 1990 levels, an achievement that we should be proud of. Businesses in particular saw a drop in their emissions and removals by 41%. However we also need to be aware of the increases in energy, transport and residential emissions.
I believe this highlights the needs to change attitudes about the environment and convince people to do a great deal more on an individual basis to help solve the problem of global warming.
For example if every household in the UK switched just one 60W bulb to a new energy saving light bulb that's used for three hours a day, this would be the equivalent of planting 10 million new trees.
Or if every UK household only filled the kettle with the actual amount of water required we’d save enough electricity to power over 50,000 homes for a year.
These examples clearly illustrate the difference each of us can make on a daily basis to protect the environment, but by saving energy, individuals also save money on their energy bills – a win win scenario.
There is a limit to what governments can to do to change attitudes, but I believe that political leadership does have a role and the Executive can help to encourage such changes. This is why I am calling on the Executive to expand on the Scottish Community and Householder Renewable Initiative to encourage households, communities and small businesses to install modern energy creating and saving technologies. This will have the triple benefit of cutting energy bills, reducing CO2 emissions and giving new small scale renewable technologies a boost. Examples of technologies that would be eligible for funding under the Conservative eco-bonus include hydro-electric, solar water heating and wall and roof insulation. Households will be able to apply for a grant up to 60% of the total cost of their project to a limit of £4,000. We are proposing to double the previous 30% limit as we believe that these grants should be able to reach more households
Community schemes would be able to apply for a maximum grant of £10,000 for a feasibility study and a maximum grant of £100,000 for a capital project. In addition we will extend the scheme to allow small businesses to also apply for a maximum grant of £4,000 for 60% of the total cost of their small renewable project.
We would make £12 million per annum available for the Eco-Bonus Scheme – this matches the Executive’s total spending to date and triples their current annual spend. I believe that this eco-bonus scheme will help address cultural attitudes to raise awareness as well as encouraging the public to assume personal responsibility for contributing to a sustainable Scotland.
We should recognise that many businesses are also helping to change the way we think about the environment. For example Sainsbury’s is now using biodegradable packaging whilst Tesco is encouraging shoppers to re-use poly bags.
Of course all of these developments, while important are small steps to improving our environment. To fully help heal the planet we need to seriously look at new ways of developing energy. Wave power, small scale hydro and decentralised energy all have a great deal of potential to offer us, but are in need of a lot of research and development. Research and development into new ways to reduce carbon emissions is vital, which is why I was sorry to see that the Executive had performed a u-turn on its promise of a business rates cut for companies engaged in research and development. But then I suppose we should be used to Labour and the Lib Dems failing to keep their promises by now.
This brings me to my final point – politicians and double standards. Politicians have a reputation for double standards already, but I think it would be totally unacceptable for MSPs to call on businesses and homes to help the environment when the Parliament itself is apparently energy inefficient. In March this year thermal images of the building, commissioned by the BBC, showed that the Parliament is losing heat. Similarly we have a great number of lights left on in the parliament round the clock, and how many TVs, computers and Telewest boxes are regularly left on standby? This is a waste of energy. I’m not calling for a parliament inspector of gadgets, but pointing out that each of us also has a responsibility to ensure that our offices and the Parliament itself is energy efficient.
I wanted to use the debate today to outline the threat that we all face from global warming. It is imperative that we encourage everyone to work together to contribute to a sustainable Scotland.
As we sit here in Edinburgh in September 2006 in what I believe has been a helpful debate, if, knowing what we know now, we do not translate that knowledge into a personal and collective change in lifestyle we are contemplating a Firth of Forth where the Isle of May could disappear, shore line settlements round Scotland where tidal flooding could become the rule, not the exception and where the familiar physical face of Scotland, which we have taken for granted, suffers ugly and unwelcome change.
However Conservatives have long believed in trusting people. I believe that the Scottish people want to protect their planet for future generations, which is why the Scottish Conservatives are committed to enabling every individual to play their own part in meeting the challenge of climate change.