Royal Bank of Scotland should be transformed into 'bank of sustainability'

Sustainable Development Commission launches 275 'breakthrough' ideas to 'inspire and motivate policy makers'
John Vidal, environment editor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 June 2009 14.51 BST

The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 70% owned by the public, should be transformed into the Royal Bank of Sustainability with a brief to back renewable energy, improve public transport, and to raise money to resolve Britain's housing crisis.
The suggestion is one of 275 potential "breakthrough" ideas submitted by members of the public to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) to improve the quality of people's lives, increase community involvement and make Britain a fairer society.
Other suggestions include a radical switching of 20% of all health spending towards preventing illness rather than treatments by 2020, getting young people more connected to the natural world by holding more classes outdoors, and turning under-used city land into urban farms.
"Compared to the combined governments' response to the implosion in the capital markets the response to civilisation-threatening crises [has been] stumbling and uninspired… We seem bogged down on so many fronts. We wanted to bring together a dynamic portfolio of ideas that could really inspire and motivate policy makers and others to set the UK much more decisively on the path to becoming a sustainable society," says the report entitled Breakthroughs for the Twenty-First Century, which is published tomorrow.
Many of the ideas, like making cycling mainstream and setting up low carbon zones to reduce emissions and combat health problems, are not new but need invigorating, says the report. Others, like using algae to capture emissions, are controversial. But together, said outgoing SDC chief Jonathon Porritt, the 275 ideas could reinvigorate the political process.
One suggestion, known to be gaining ground in the Treasury, aims to raise billions of pounds to reduce carbon emissions by releasing "green bonds' which would be issued and backed by government. Like standard government bonds (known as gilts) these would be super-safe investments that guaranteed a fixed interest rate, but the money would be ring-fenced for environmental spending by government.
Another suggestion, from the Yorkshire village of Todmorden, would set up a national competition to inspire towns and communities to grow more food grown in both public and private spaces. "Food is the trigger for greater involvement with the big issues such as climate change and health," said Pam Warhurst of Todmorden.
In addition to inviting people from every walk of life to contribute ideas, the authors of the report surveyed groups of young people who told them that what mattered most was the quality of their environment, better transport, fairness, education, sustainable food and farming and the need for leadership.
But some ideas are very unlikely to go down well with the present or even the next government. "What I truly honestly believe would improve the lives of every single person in this country is an end to the capitalist free-market system. If the human race is ever going to progress then it will only be done by a socialist alternative to materialism," said a youth, identified only as "Fred, from the SW".