Juliette Jowit, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
The UK could meet its ambitious pledge to slash greenhouse gas pollution even if ministers give the go-ahead to expanding Heathrow airport, the government's leading climate change adviser has signalled.
This week the chairman of the government's Environment Agency, Lord Smith of Finsbury, joined critics who say that adding a third runway at Britain's biggest airport would destroy the government's promise to tackle climate change, and increase local air and noise pollution to intolerable levels.
But when asked about the contentious Heathrow plan, Lord Turner, chairman of the independent Climate Change Committee, told the Guardian that it would be possible for aviation to be expanded while still meeting the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century, especially if airlines were able to use biofuels or other low-carbon power sources.
"It's possible for the world to cut greenhouse gases while still not cutting aviation by anything like as much, even increase aviation emissions," he said.
While not an endorsement of the plans, the comments could pave the way for an announcement before Christmas that Heathrow's owner, BAA, can build a third runway and new terminal to cater for hundreds more flights every day.
Turner was speaking days before the committee will publish its first report outlining how the government will meet its promise on cutting greenhouse gases. Monday's report will include interim targets for reductions which must be achieved up to 2022.
He also warned that:
• Major organisations must not use the recession as an excuse to duck ambitious plans to build a low-carbon economy.
• Promises of new jobs in the green economy should not be overstated by supporters.
He said the recession posed some threats, such as the loss of investment capital, but also opportunities, such as the potential for lower demand for steel and specialist engineering skills which should help reduce costs for renewable energy suppliers, especially wind-turbine manufacturers and operators.
In the short term, emissions should also decline as output fell, but companies should not stop investing in efficiency and clean technology to cut emissions in the longer term. Turner said: "It's very important to avoid misuse of the temporary downturn for lessening policies."
He warned that supporters of a so-called "green new deal" should not exaggerate the number of jobs that would be created, but insisted that the changes should not hurt investment or employment. "Everything we know about economic theory tells us there will be as many jobs in a low-carbon economy as a high-carbon economy," he said.
The comments come amid concern that the economic downturn could signal an end to political and business commitments, including green taxes and regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Following lobbying by the car industry across Europe, the government yesterday watered down a recommended new car emissions target for 2012, saying it would phase in a target by 2020, though it added that it was also pushing for a lower limit.
Shell and BP have been among companies that have pulled out of wind and solar energy projects in the UK, citing better returns in the US, and European plans for ambitious targets for renewable energy and emission cuts have been threatened by lobbying from businesses.
The government's climate change target - formally passed into law last night when the Climate Change Act received royal assent - includes aviation and shipping, though it will not specifically set a target for Heathrow.
This week Alistair Darling's pre-budget report included measures to stimulate green investment, such as extra money for home insulation, but he was criticised for delaying higher taxes on more polluting cars and bringing forward spending for motorway widening.
Environment campaigners were also disappointed that the government did not adopt a more aggressive package of investment in renewable energy and low-carbon technology as a way of creating thousands of new jobs, along the lines of the plans being signalled by the US president-elect, Barack Obama.
However, John Kerry, who will lead the US Senate delegation at the UN climate talks in Poland in December, warned yesterday that hopes the US could help lead a global green recovery by paying countries such as India and China to reduce their greenhouse gases might be constrained by the economic crisis.
"The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were in two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate."
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Climate change: UK takes legal lead
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
The UK was set to make history last night when the climate change bill received royal assent and brought into law the world's first legally binding targets for a nation to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
This and future governments will be committed to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. Progress towards this target will be laid out and monitored by a new independent climate change committee, which on Monday will recommend the first three five-year "budgets".
The committee will not be able to hold ministers to account if they miss the targets, but will make an annual report to parliament on progress towards the budgets. Other countries have announced similar or deeper emissions cuts, but none have committed them selves by law.
At the same time the energy bill, which includes measures to enable energy companies to pay "feed-in tariffs" to homeowners, community groups and businesses who export spare low-carbon energy to the national grid, was also approved.
Environment campaigners are angry, however, about elements of the planning bill, the third "green" bill on the schedule, which will set up a national committee to decide on big developments, leading to accusations that it will be used to push through big infrastructure schemes such as the expansion of Heathrow.
The UK was set to make history last night when the climate change bill received royal assent and brought into law the world's first legally binding targets for a nation to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
This and future governments will be committed to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. Progress towards this target will be laid out and monitored by a new independent climate change committee, which on Monday will recommend the first three five-year "budgets".
The committee will not be able to hold ministers to account if they miss the targets, but will make an annual report to parliament on progress towards the budgets. Other countries have announced similar or deeper emissions cuts, but none have committed them selves by law.
At the same time the energy bill, which includes measures to enable energy companies to pay "feed-in tariffs" to homeowners, community groups and businesses who export spare low-carbon energy to the national grid, was also approved.
Environment campaigners are angry, however, about elements of the planning bill, the third "green" bill on the schedule, which will set up a national committee to decide on big developments, leading to accusations that it will be used to push through big infrastructure schemes such as the expansion of Heathrow.
Climate consultants net £500k
Published Date: 26 November 2008
ECOMETRICA, a UK-based climate change consultancy, has secured a £500,000 investment to expand its business in the UK and North America.
The funding is the latest support gained from investors and clients since the company was founded earlier this year.Ecometrica was launched through the Edinburgh Pre-Incubator Scheme (EPIS), established by the University of Edinburgh in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise. Gary Davis, a graduate of Edinburgh University and operations director at Ecometrica, said: "It's been an exciting start to the business, with things moving very quickly. Now the investment is secure, we begin the major job of reaching our clients – including private companies and policy-makers – and providing them with great value analytical services."
Published Date: 26 November 2008
ECOMETRICA, a UK-based climate change consultancy, has secured a £500,000 investment to expand its business in the UK and North America.
The funding is the latest support gained from investors and clients since the company was founded earlier this year.Ecometrica was launched through the Edinburgh Pre-Incubator Scheme (EPIS), established by the University of Edinburgh in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise. Gary Davis, a graduate of Edinburgh University and operations director at Ecometrica, said: "It's been an exciting start to the business, with things moving very quickly. Now the investment is secure, we begin the major job of reaching our clients – including private companies and policy-makers – and providing them with great value analytical services."
Vatican installs huge solar panel energy system
The Vatican, the world's smallest sovereign state, has stepped up its fight against global warming by installing a huge rooftop solar energy system.
By Nick Squires in RomeLast Updated: 6:54PM GMT 26 Nov 2008
The hall has a sweeping, wave-shaped roof which made the project feasible Photo: REUTERS
More than 2,000 photovoltaic panels have been fixed to the roof of one of the city state's main buildings, enabling the Holy See to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by about 225 tonnes a year, saving the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil annually.
Looming over them is the imposing bulk of St Peter's Basilica, but the panels will not be visible from ground level, leaving the Vatican's impressive skyline unblemished.
The solar energy system covers the massive roof of the "Nervi Hall", where Pope Benedict XVI holds general audiences.
The 2,400 panels, designed by a Germany company, will heat, light and cool the hall and several surrounding buildings, producing 300 kilowatt hours (MWh) of clean energy a year.
The hall, built in 1971 and one of the Vatican's newest buildings, has a sweeping, wave-shaped roof which made the project feasible.
The Vatican's official mouthpiece, the daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, said in an editorial that "the gradual exhaustion of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect have reached critical dimensions."
Pope Benedict, like his predecessor John Paul II, has made several appeals for greater efforts to protect the environment.
Last year the Holy See announced that it would become the world's first carbon-neutral state by planting trees in a national park in Hungary in order to offset its carbon-dioxide emissions.
This latest initiative puts the Vatican at odds with Italy. The Italian government said this week that it would veto new European Union limits on greenhouse gas emissions unless it won concessions.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a plan proposed by France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, was unrealistic.
Italy's greenhouse gas emissions are around 13 per cent above 1990 levels – one of the worst performances in the EU.
Analysts believe that Italy may be dragging its heels in order to secure a better deal for its industry and that the government would not dare risk the stigma of sabotaging the EU's self-declared role as the world leader in tackling climate change.
By Nick Squires in RomeLast Updated: 6:54PM GMT 26 Nov 2008
The hall has a sweeping, wave-shaped roof which made the project feasible Photo: REUTERS
More than 2,000 photovoltaic panels have been fixed to the roof of one of the city state's main buildings, enabling the Holy See to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by about 225 tonnes a year, saving the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil annually.
Looming over them is the imposing bulk of St Peter's Basilica, but the panels will not be visible from ground level, leaving the Vatican's impressive skyline unblemished.
The solar energy system covers the massive roof of the "Nervi Hall", where Pope Benedict XVI holds general audiences.
The 2,400 panels, designed by a Germany company, will heat, light and cool the hall and several surrounding buildings, producing 300 kilowatt hours (MWh) of clean energy a year.
The hall, built in 1971 and one of the Vatican's newest buildings, has a sweeping, wave-shaped roof which made the project feasible.
The Vatican's official mouthpiece, the daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, said in an editorial that "the gradual exhaustion of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect have reached critical dimensions."
Pope Benedict, like his predecessor John Paul II, has made several appeals for greater efforts to protect the environment.
Last year the Holy See announced that it would become the world's first carbon-neutral state by planting trees in a national park in Hungary in order to offset its carbon-dioxide emissions.
This latest initiative puts the Vatican at odds with Italy. The Italian government said this week that it would veto new European Union limits on greenhouse gas emissions unless it won concessions.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said a plan proposed by France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, was unrealistic.
Italy's greenhouse gas emissions are around 13 per cent above 1990 levels – one of the worst performances in the EU.
Analysts believe that Italy may be dragging its heels in order to secure a better deal for its industry and that the government would not dare risk the stigma of sabotaging the EU's self-declared role as the world leader in tackling climate change.
Testing times for peer juggling financial crisis and climate peril
Lord Turner puts forward 'budgets' for green progress - recession or not
Juliette Jowit
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Gas being flared off at the Grangemouth oil refinery. Lord Turner's interim recommendation to reduce emissions by up to 80% was taken up in a climate change bill. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
It is hard to think of anybody who has a busier diary at the moment than Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, who has found himself advising the government on how to save both capitalism and, between meetings, the planet from climate change.
Turner became chairman of the Financial Services Authority in September, on a weekend sandwiched between the collapses of global investment bank Lehman Brothers and UK mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley.
Between meetings about the crisis in the stockmarket and multibillion-pound bank bailouts, the former management consultant has also been working as chairman of the government's independent environment watchdog, the Committee on Climate Change.
Turner described his first weeks in charge of both bodies as "the most extraordinary weeks of my professional career", which has also seen him run the Confederation of British Industry and a government review of pensions.
On Monday, the committee will publish its first report recommending targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, working towards the government's pledge to reduce climate change emissions by 80% by 2050.
The much-awaited announcement will include interim targets for the first three five-year periods - covering 2008 to 2022 - and advise the government on what cuts could be made from which sectors, particularly energy, transport and industry.
Turner has announced he will give up the committee chairman's role after this report, but will stay on the panel at a time when many fear green policies will be blunted by the need to battle the looming recession - or "temporary downturn" as Turner calls it.
As he has promised at the FSA, he is likely to take a tough line: "The recession will flatter our [emissions] figures over the next two years because one of the immediate effects is less output, less development, etcetera," he told the Guardian. "Hopefully we'll pull out in 2010, but the fact we're going into a recession now really doesn't change the medium- or long-term plan or costs of driving towards a low-carbon economy."
In the past, Turner has called for the UK to stop using fossil fuels to produce power within 20 years. This week he went further, saying that to make such steep emissions cuts the country was likely to need a big increase in renewable power, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage equipment for coal plants to replace existing high-carbon generation. Other changes would include replacing gas heating in homes with electric heating and oil-fuelled cars with electric ones.
"Even though we'll get more and more efficient in our use of electricity it's quite possible that the long-term trend of electrical production will be up because we'll use more electricity to do things," said Turner.
Turner did not comment on whether the committee will criticise plans to build new coal power stations without or with only partial carbon capture equipment, which may affect the government's decision on the first proposed such plant, at Kingsnorth in Kent.
However Monday's report will provide support for government plans to build new nuclear stations, as well as renewable energy, Turner said. "We think the way forward will have to include all three of those, rather than just one or the other."
The interim report urged the government to be more ambitious by increasing its target to cut emissions from 60% to 80%; to include all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide; and to include aviation and shipping.
All three recommendations were adopted in the climate change bill, which was due to become law last night. However, at least initially, emissions from internationally regulated aviation and shipping will not be part of the five year "budgets".
The budgets were set to take account of progress towards the 2050 target, the UK's commitments to European Union emissions goals, and a bottom-up analysis of what it was possible to do in different sectors, said Turner.
The report will also make a recommendation about how many offsetting credits UK companies can buy from projects which cut emissions overseas.
The EU has set a target to cut emissions from 1990 levels by at least 20% by 2020, and by 30% if there is a global deal with other large-scale emitters.
Juliette Jowit
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Gas being flared off at the Grangemouth oil refinery. Lord Turner's interim recommendation to reduce emissions by up to 80% was taken up in a climate change bill. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
It is hard to think of anybody who has a busier diary at the moment than Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, who has found himself advising the government on how to save both capitalism and, between meetings, the planet from climate change.
Turner became chairman of the Financial Services Authority in September, on a weekend sandwiched between the collapses of global investment bank Lehman Brothers and UK mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley.
Between meetings about the crisis in the stockmarket and multibillion-pound bank bailouts, the former management consultant has also been working as chairman of the government's independent environment watchdog, the Committee on Climate Change.
Turner described his first weeks in charge of both bodies as "the most extraordinary weeks of my professional career", which has also seen him run the Confederation of British Industry and a government review of pensions.
On Monday, the committee will publish its first report recommending targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, working towards the government's pledge to reduce climate change emissions by 80% by 2050.
The much-awaited announcement will include interim targets for the first three five-year periods - covering 2008 to 2022 - and advise the government on what cuts could be made from which sectors, particularly energy, transport and industry.
Turner has announced he will give up the committee chairman's role after this report, but will stay on the panel at a time when many fear green policies will be blunted by the need to battle the looming recession - or "temporary downturn" as Turner calls it.
As he has promised at the FSA, he is likely to take a tough line: "The recession will flatter our [emissions] figures over the next two years because one of the immediate effects is less output, less development, etcetera," he told the Guardian. "Hopefully we'll pull out in 2010, but the fact we're going into a recession now really doesn't change the medium- or long-term plan or costs of driving towards a low-carbon economy."
In the past, Turner has called for the UK to stop using fossil fuels to produce power within 20 years. This week he went further, saying that to make such steep emissions cuts the country was likely to need a big increase in renewable power, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage equipment for coal plants to replace existing high-carbon generation. Other changes would include replacing gas heating in homes with electric heating and oil-fuelled cars with electric ones.
"Even though we'll get more and more efficient in our use of electricity it's quite possible that the long-term trend of electrical production will be up because we'll use more electricity to do things," said Turner.
Turner did not comment on whether the committee will criticise plans to build new coal power stations without or with only partial carbon capture equipment, which may affect the government's decision on the first proposed such plant, at Kingsnorth in Kent.
However Monday's report will provide support for government plans to build new nuclear stations, as well as renewable energy, Turner said. "We think the way forward will have to include all three of those, rather than just one or the other."
The interim report urged the government to be more ambitious by increasing its target to cut emissions from 60% to 80%; to include all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide; and to include aviation and shipping.
All three recommendations were adopted in the climate change bill, which was due to become law last night. However, at least initially, emissions from internationally regulated aviation and shipping will not be part of the five year "budgets".
The budgets were set to take account of progress towards the 2050 target, the UK's commitments to European Union emissions goals, and a bottom-up analysis of what it was possible to do in different sectors, said Turner.
The report will also make a recommendation about how many offsetting credits UK companies can buy from projects which cut emissions overseas.
The EU has set a target to cut emissions from 1990 levels by at least 20% by 2020, and by 30% if there is a global deal with other large-scale emitters.
Barack Obama's hopes of change are all in the mind
The US president-elect needs to tackle human behaviour before he can tackle climate change, says psychologist Adam Corner
Adam Corner
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Barack Obama swept to power on a platform of change, with bold promises including an 80% reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Clearly, though, targets and intentions are only part of the story when it comes to tackling climate change.
For America to reduce its emissions by four-fifths, an awful lot of citizens are going to have to be persuaded to change their behaviour — something notoriously difficult to achieve.
While the effect that human activity has on the environment is a question for climate scientists, the effect that humans have on each other is something that social scientists are better qualified to assess. The good news is that the process of persuasion is one that has been studied for nearly 50 years by psychologists. The bad news is that persuading people to change their environmental behaviour is not as straightforward as one might hope.
Many environmental appeals involve what social psychologists refer to as "social norms" — the standards that we use to judge the appropriateness of our own behaviour. The basic premise underlying these appeals is that people tend to act in a way that is socially acceptable.
So, if a particular behaviour (littering, for example, or driving a car with a large engine) can be cast in a socially unacceptable light, then people should be less likely to engage in that behaviour. However, a growing body of research suggests that attempting to change environmental behaviour using social norms is fraught with pitfalls and traps, so that even the best-intentioned persuasive appeal may backfire.
As Robert Cialdini and his colleagues at Arizona State University have demonstrated, the problem with appeals based on social norms is that they often contain a hidden message.
So, for example, an environmental campaign that focuses on the fact that too many people drive cars with large engines contains two messages — that driving cars with large engines is bad for the environment, and that lots of people are driving cars with large engines. This second message makes it unlikely that the campaign will work. Worse, it might even make it counterproductive: by conveying how common the undesirable behaviour is, it can give those who do not currently engage in that behaviour a perverse incentive to do so. Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?
Of course, this isn't a problem confined to environmental campaigning. Recent TV licensing adverts cheerfully inform would-be television watching criminals that more than 15,000 licence-evaders were caught during Wimbledon 2008 alone — 15,000 during one tennis tournament? And that's only the ones they've caught? That's an awful lot of people not paying their TV licence, and a powerful statistic with which to "normalise" one's own behaviour.
But whereas the Orwellian TV licensing adverts can only threaten £1,000 fines, much more is at stake when it comes to getting environmental messages right. Fortunately, there is a way of harnessing the power of social norms, so that the dreaded "boomerang effect" doesn't occur.
In a recent experiment, psychologists examined the influence of social norms on the household energy consumption of residents of California. The researchers, led by Wesley Schultz, picked houses at random and then divided them into groups depending on whether their energy consumption was higher or lower than the average for that area. Some low-energy-use households received only information about average energy usage — thereby setting the social norm.
A second group of low-energy households had a positive "emoticon" (happy face) positioned next to their personal energy figure, conveying approval of their energy footprint. A third group of over-consuming households were shown their energy usage coupled with a negative emoticon (sad face), intended to convey disapproval of their higher-than-average footprint.
The researchers then measured energy consumption in the following months. As one might expect, the over-consuming households used the social norm as a motivation to reduce their energy use, but under-consuming households that had received only the social norm information increased their energy use.
Crucially, though, the under-consuming households that had received positive feedback did not show this boomerang effect: the addition of a smiley face next to their energy usage made all the difference. Despite the simplicity of the feedback, households that felt their under-consumption was socially approved (rather than a reason to relax), maintained their small energy footprint. This suggests that using social norms can be effective — but only if they are used in the right way.
Castigating the "majority" of people for driving cars with large engines, without simultaneously praising those who have chosen smaller models could spectacularly backfire. Environmental campaigns using social norms will have to be supplemented with information targeted at specific groups about the desirability of their particular behaviours. If people are doing something positive, they need to know about it.
To hit his carbon targets, Obama needs psychologists on his team, not just energy experts and economists. Otherwise "Yes We Can" will too often become "Yes we could, but now we know what everyone else is doing we maybe won't bother".
Adam Corner is psychologist at Cardiff University. His research interests include the communication of climate change.
Adam Corner
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Barack Obama swept to power on a platform of change, with bold promises including an 80% reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Clearly, though, targets and intentions are only part of the story when it comes to tackling climate change.
For America to reduce its emissions by four-fifths, an awful lot of citizens are going to have to be persuaded to change their behaviour — something notoriously difficult to achieve.
While the effect that human activity has on the environment is a question for climate scientists, the effect that humans have on each other is something that social scientists are better qualified to assess. The good news is that the process of persuasion is one that has been studied for nearly 50 years by psychologists. The bad news is that persuading people to change their environmental behaviour is not as straightforward as one might hope.
Many environmental appeals involve what social psychologists refer to as "social norms" — the standards that we use to judge the appropriateness of our own behaviour. The basic premise underlying these appeals is that people tend to act in a way that is socially acceptable.
So, if a particular behaviour (littering, for example, or driving a car with a large engine) can be cast in a socially unacceptable light, then people should be less likely to engage in that behaviour. However, a growing body of research suggests that attempting to change environmental behaviour using social norms is fraught with pitfalls and traps, so that even the best-intentioned persuasive appeal may backfire.
As Robert Cialdini and his colleagues at Arizona State University have demonstrated, the problem with appeals based on social norms is that they often contain a hidden message.
So, for example, an environmental campaign that focuses on the fact that too many people drive cars with large engines contains two messages — that driving cars with large engines is bad for the environment, and that lots of people are driving cars with large engines. This second message makes it unlikely that the campaign will work. Worse, it might even make it counterproductive: by conveying how common the undesirable behaviour is, it can give those who do not currently engage in that behaviour a perverse incentive to do so. Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?
Of course, this isn't a problem confined to environmental campaigning. Recent TV licensing adverts cheerfully inform would-be television watching criminals that more than 15,000 licence-evaders were caught during Wimbledon 2008 alone — 15,000 during one tennis tournament? And that's only the ones they've caught? That's an awful lot of people not paying their TV licence, and a powerful statistic with which to "normalise" one's own behaviour.
But whereas the Orwellian TV licensing adverts can only threaten £1,000 fines, much more is at stake when it comes to getting environmental messages right. Fortunately, there is a way of harnessing the power of social norms, so that the dreaded "boomerang effect" doesn't occur.
In a recent experiment, psychologists examined the influence of social norms on the household energy consumption of residents of California. The researchers, led by Wesley Schultz, picked houses at random and then divided them into groups depending on whether their energy consumption was higher or lower than the average for that area. Some low-energy-use households received only information about average energy usage — thereby setting the social norm.
A second group of low-energy households had a positive "emoticon" (happy face) positioned next to their personal energy figure, conveying approval of their energy footprint. A third group of over-consuming households were shown their energy usage coupled with a negative emoticon (sad face), intended to convey disapproval of their higher-than-average footprint.
The researchers then measured energy consumption in the following months. As one might expect, the over-consuming households used the social norm as a motivation to reduce their energy use, but under-consuming households that had received only the social norm information increased their energy use.
Crucially, though, the under-consuming households that had received positive feedback did not show this boomerang effect: the addition of a smiley face next to their energy usage made all the difference. Despite the simplicity of the feedback, households that felt their under-consumption was socially approved (rather than a reason to relax), maintained their small energy footprint. This suggests that using social norms can be effective — but only if they are used in the right way.
Castigating the "majority" of people for driving cars with large engines, without simultaneously praising those who have chosen smaller models could spectacularly backfire. Environmental campaigns using social norms will have to be supplemented with information targeted at specific groups about the desirability of their particular behaviours. If people are doing something positive, they need to know about it.
To hit his carbon targets, Obama needs psychologists on his team, not just energy experts and economists. Otherwise "Yes We Can" will too often become "Yes we could, but now we know what everyone else is doing we maybe won't bother".
Adam Corner is psychologist at Cardiff University. His research interests include the communication of climate change.
Economy may force Obama to cut back on green pledge
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Barack Obama, who promised last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday.
John Kerry, who will lead the US Senate's delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, next month, said his country was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also said Obama's administration would be constrained by the economic crisis in offering incentives to countries such as India and China to commit themselves to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to figure out what is achievable ... within one year, given our economic realities," Kerry said. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate."
The caution came amid rising expectations on the eve of the two-week UN meeting, which begins on Monday, about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little negotiation on a treaty at the meeting but it would focus on setting out a timetable leading up to next year's international climate change summit at the Copenhagen meeting. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glide path going into Copenhagen."
In a video appearance last week before a climate change conference hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Obama promised the US would lead the way on the environment.
Kerry reaffirmed that pledge, even with the caveats. "It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time - for eight years, to be blunt," he said. "And we intend to pick up the baton and really run with it here."
Kerry said Obama had asked him to report back on the meeting in Poland.
The Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Kerry is scheduled to take over as the chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee in January. That puts him in pole position for lining up support in Congress behind a successor to Kyoto. "It's going to be one of the top priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "I know this playing field and I know this issue."
Kerry said Obama was making progress in filling the environmental portfolios in his administration, and in coordinating with working committees in Congress. Obama will not be in Poznan. His position since the election has been that America has only one sitting president at a time. But the focus has already shifted towards the potential actors in the next administration.
On the American side, Kerry is to be joined at Poznan by the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, an early supporter of Obama, who has been active on the environment. George Bush will be sending his regular negotiators to Poland for the final climate change conference of his administration. The US delegation will be led by the undersecretary of state, Paula Dobriansky. Jim Connaughton, the White House adviser on the environment, will also attend. The US delegation was heckled at last December's climate conference in Bali.
guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 27 2008 00.01 GMT
Barack Obama, who promised last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday.
John Kerry, who will lead the US Senate's delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, next month, said his country was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also said Obama's administration would be constrained by the economic crisis in offering incentives to countries such as India and China to commit themselves to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to figure out what is achievable ... within one year, given our economic realities," Kerry said. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate."
The caution came amid rising expectations on the eve of the two-week UN meeting, which begins on Monday, about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little negotiation on a treaty at the meeting but it would focus on setting out a timetable leading up to next year's international climate change summit at the Copenhagen meeting. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glide path going into Copenhagen."
In a video appearance last week before a climate change conference hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Obama promised the US would lead the way on the environment.
Kerry reaffirmed that pledge, even with the caveats. "It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time - for eight years, to be blunt," he said. "And we intend to pick up the baton and really run with it here."
Kerry said Obama had asked him to report back on the meeting in Poland.
The Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Kerry is scheduled to take over as the chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee in January. That puts him in pole position for lining up support in Congress behind a successor to Kyoto. "It's going to be one of the top priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "I know this playing field and I know this issue."
Kerry said Obama was making progress in filling the environmental portfolios in his administration, and in coordinating with working committees in Congress. Obama will not be in Poznan. His position since the election has been that America has only one sitting president at a time. But the focus has already shifted towards the potential actors in the next administration.
On the American side, Kerry is to be joined at Poznan by the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, an early supporter of Obama, who has been active on the environment. George Bush will be sending his regular negotiators to Poland for the final climate change conference of his administration. The US delegation will be led by the undersecretary of state, Paula Dobriansky. Jim Connaughton, the White House adviser on the environment, will also attend. The US delegation was heckled at last December's climate conference in Bali.
Economic slump may constrain US climate ambitions, Kerry warns
Barack Obama's promise to write a 'new chapter in America's leadership' on the environment could be undermined by the current economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations has warned ahead of a UN summit in Poland next month
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 26 2008 10.49 GMT
Barack Obama, who pledged only last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday.
John Kerry, who will lead the Senate delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, said that America was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also warned that the incoming Obama administration would be constrained by the economic crisis in offering incentives to countries such as India and China to commit to action to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to figure out what is achievable at Copenhagen within one year given our economic realities," Kerry told a conference call with reporters. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate," he said.
The caution comes amid rising anticipation on the eve of the UN meeting in Poznan about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little actual negotiation on a treaty at Poznan and that the meeting would focus on setting out a working timetable. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glidepath going into Copenhagen."
In a video appearance last week before a climate change conference hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Obama promised a global leadership role for the US.
Kerry reaffirmed that pledge - even with the caveats. "It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time - for eight years, to be blunt," he said. "And we intend to pick up the baton and really run with it here."
Kerry said Obama had asked him to report back on the meeting in Poland.
The Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Kerry is scheduled to take over as the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee next January. That puts him in pole position for lining up support in Congress behind a successor to Kyoto. "It's going to be one of the top priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "I know this playing field and I know this issue."
Kerry said Obama was moving ahead on filling the environmental portfolios in his administration, and in coordinating with the relevant working committees in Congress.
Obama will not be in Poznan - his mantra since the election has been that America has only one sitting president at a time. However, the focus has already shifted towards the potential actors in the next administration.
Kerry is to be joined at Poznan by the Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar, an early supporter of Obama who has been active on the environment.
President Bush will be sending his regular negotiators to Poland for the final climate change conference of his administration. The American delegation will be led by the undersecretary of state, Paula Dobriansky. Jim Connaughton, the White House adviser on the environment, will also attend. The America delegation was heckled at last December's climate conference in Bali.
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 26 2008 10.49 GMT
Barack Obama, who pledged only last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday.
John Kerry, who will lead the Senate delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, said that America was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also warned that the incoming Obama administration would be constrained by the economic crisis in offering incentives to countries such as India and China to commit to action to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to figure out what is achievable at Copenhagen within one year given our economic realities," Kerry told a conference call with reporters. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate," he said.
The caution comes amid rising anticipation on the eve of the UN meeting in Poznan about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little actual negotiation on a treaty at Poznan and that the meeting would focus on setting out a working timetable. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glidepath going into Copenhagen."
In a video appearance last week before a climate change conference hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Obama promised a global leadership role for the US.
Kerry reaffirmed that pledge - even with the caveats. "It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time - for eight years, to be blunt," he said. "And we intend to pick up the baton and really run with it here."
Kerry said Obama had asked him to report back on the meeting in Poland.
The Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Kerry is scheduled to take over as the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee next January. That puts him in pole position for lining up support in Congress behind a successor to Kyoto. "It's going to be one of the top priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "I know this playing field and I know this issue."
Kerry said Obama was moving ahead on filling the environmental portfolios in his administration, and in coordinating with the relevant working committees in Congress.
Obama will not be in Poznan - his mantra since the election has been that America has only one sitting president at a time. However, the focus has already shifted towards the potential actors in the next administration.
Kerry is to be joined at Poznan by the Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar, an early supporter of Obama who has been active on the environment.
President Bush will be sending his regular negotiators to Poland for the final climate change conference of his administration. The American delegation will be led by the undersecretary of state, Paula Dobriansky. Jim Connaughton, the White House adviser on the environment, will also attend. The America delegation was heckled at last December's climate conference in Bali.
Canada Eyes Emissions' Trade
By HYUN YOUNG LEE
Canada has made early overtures toward matching tougher climate-change rules likely to come in the U.S., but there are still big bumps on the road to creating a North American emissions-credit market.
In its list of priorities for the new session of Parliament, Canada's federal government last week said it would tackle rising emissions of greenhouse gases using methods comparable to those used in Europe, the U.S. and other industrialized countries, methods previously rejected by the current Conservative administration.
"We will work with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North America-wide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases," Governor General Michaëlle Jean said in the speech.
Events south of the border have sparked Canada's embrace of the cap-and-trade mechanism, which would set a fixed emissions limit allowing participating facilities to buy and sell emissions credits as needed. With President-elect Obama coming into power, the U.S. is looking to shake off its reputation as a climate-change laggard.
Mr. Obama last week re-emphasized his commitment to stringent emissions targets. "That will start with a federal cap-and-trade system," he said in a video prepared for a climate-change summit in Los Angeles.
Canada wants to forge as close a bond with the U.S. on emissions as it has in energy, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling for a joint climate-change policy days after Mr. Obama's election victory. But this would involve a complete overhaul of Canada's current standards, which are looser and purposefully at odds with cap and trade.
"I don't see any possibility for the Canadian system now to link into what's likely to come out of the U.S.," said Milo Sjardin, who heads North American operations for research firm New Carbon Finance. "The world is moving towards a cap-and-trade system and it just doesn't make sense for Canada to go its own way."
Last year, the Canadian government outlined much-criticized plans to cut emissions intensity, or the ratio of greenhouse gases to industrial output, in the hope that this would slice a fifth off its 2006 emission levels by 2020 without the need for fixed caps.
But if industrial production expands quickly enough, overall greenhouse gases can still rise despite deep cuts in intensity. Over the past two decades, this is precisely what has happened in Alberta's vast oil sands, one of the beneficiaries of Canada's system.
Canada already has some limited carbon emissions trading through the Montréal Climate Exchange, though the federal program isn't slated to start until 2010.
"If and when Canada and the U.S. reach an agreement to recognize each other's [climate-change] efforts, there will eventually have to be some kind of reciprocity or fungibility between the two programs," said Léon Bitton, the exchange's vice president of research and development.
But Mr. Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, creating one of the stiffest cap-and-trade programs in the world, and chop an additional 80% by 2050. The U.S. may prove unwilling to assign equivalent value to credits from Canada's softer plan, weakened further by an array of compliance options that allow companies to meet targets without cutting emissions, such as paying a fixed penalty into a technology fund.
"Canada's a bit like the Lone Ranger -- the Canadians have designed their system differently to anyone else in the world," Mr. Sjardin said. "The Canadian government will need to fall into line if it wants to take part in an international program."
Climate-change policy has already been moving forward at the provincial level. British Columbia has imposed a carbon tax on fossil fuels, which came into force in the summer. In June, Ontario and Quebec, where nearly two-thirds of Canada's population resides, inked a deal to establish a bilateral cap-and-trade system, potentially serving as a foundation for a national plan.
The three provinces, and Manitoba, have committed to a cap-and-trade system with seven U.S. states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Washington, under the Western Climate Initiative, or WCI.
This program is due to start in 2012, the expected launch date for a U.S. federal system, leading some to think the WCI will simply be subsumed into the latter.
Write to Hyun Young Lee at hyunyoung.lee@dowjones.com
Canada has made early overtures toward matching tougher climate-change rules likely to come in the U.S., but there are still big bumps on the road to creating a North American emissions-credit market.
In its list of priorities for the new session of Parliament, Canada's federal government last week said it would tackle rising emissions of greenhouse gases using methods comparable to those used in Europe, the U.S. and other industrialized countries, methods previously rejected by the current Conservative administration.
"We will work with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North America-wide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases," Governor General Michaëlle Jean said in the speech.
Events south of the border have sparked Canada's embrace of the cap-and-trade mechanism, which would set a fixed emissions limit allowing participating facilities to buy and sell emissions credits as needed. With President-elect Obama coming into power, the U.S. is looking to shake off its reputation as a climate-change laggard.
Mr. Obama last week re-emphasized his commitment to stringent emissions targets. "That will start with a federal cap-and-trade system," he said in a video prepared for a climate-change summit in Los Angeles.
Canada wants to forge as close a bond with the U.S. on emissions as it has in energy, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling for a joint climate-change policy days after Mr. Obama's election victory. But this would involve a complete overhaul of Canada's current standards, which are looser and purposefully at odds with cap and trade.
"I don't see any possibility for the Canadian system now to link into what's likely to come out of the U.S.," said Milo Sjardin, who heads North American operations for research firm New Carbon Finance. "The world is moving towards a cap-and-trade system and it just doesn't make sense for Canada to go its own way."
Last year, the Canadian government outlined much-criticized plans to cut emissions intensity, or the ratio of greenhouse gases to industrial output, in the hope that this would slice a fifth off its 2006 emission levels by 2020 without the need for fixed caps.
But if industrial production expands quickly enough, overall greenhouse gases can still rise despite deep cuts in intensity. Over the past two decades, this is precisely what has happened in Alberta's vast oil sands, one of the beneficiaries of Canada's system.
Canada already has some limited carbon emissions trading through the Montréal Climate Exchange, though the federal program isn't slated to start until 2010.
"If and when Canada and the U.S. reach an agreement to recognize each other's [climate-change] efforts, there will eventually have to be some kind of reciprocity or fungibility between the two programs," said Léon Bitton, the exchange's vice president of research and development.
But Mr. Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, creating one of the stiffest cap-and-trade programs in the world, and chop an additional 80% by 2050. The U.S. may prove unwilling to assign equivalent value to credits from Canada's softer plan, weakened further by an array of compliance options that allow companies to meet targets without cutting emissions, such as paying a fixed penalty into a technology fund.
"Canada's a bit like the Lone Ranger -- the Canadians have designed their system differently to anyone else in the world," Mr. Sjardin said. "The Canadian government will need to fall into line if it wants to take part in an international program."
Climate-change policy has already been moving forward at the provincial level. British Columbia has imposed a carbon tax on fossil fuels, which came into force in the summer. In June, Ontario and Quebec, where nearly two-thirds of Canada's population resides, inked a deal to establish a bilateral cap-and-trade system, potentially serving as a foundation for a national plan.
The three provinces, and Manitoba, have committed to a cap-and-trade system with seven U.S. states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Washington, under the Western Climate Initiative, or WCI.
This program is due to start in 2012, the expected launch date for a U.S. federal system, leading some to think the WCI will simply be subsumed into the latter.
Write to Hyun Young Lee at hyunyoung.lee@dowjones.com
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