Victoria's Green Matters - 28th Nov 2013

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the world stands within 30 years of using up its ‘carbon budget’ i.e. the amount of carbon dioxide it can emit without causing a dangerous 2⁰C rise in temperature and problematic climate change.

A recent study has shown that just 90 large companies around the world are responsible for two thirds of the green house gas emissions that are causing climate change. In fact, 30% of emissions are caused by just the top twenty companies. Many of these companies are sitting on significant reserves of fossil fuels and they know that the climate cannot withstand the burning of these reserves. Other large emitters are cement makers. These companies have also funded the climate change denial movement.

‘Our greenest government ever’ has come in for considerable criticism this week after various reports about the removal of some green policies. The most publicity has been given to the green levies that make up our energy bills – they are only actually 9% of bills – and go towards fighting rising prices in the future.

It is difficult to accept that any government could be ‘green’ when its Environment Secretary is a climate change denier but that does not mean that the green economy isn’t doing well, employing a million people and it has increased by 5% while other industries have stagnated.

Building a strong economy and carrying out policies that protect the planet should be one and the same thing.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.