Green-Sky Thinking From The Scottish Government

Photo by Randy Lemoine

Yesterday's Sunday Herald was like an environmental porn mag.

Their environment correspondent Rob Edwards had managed to get his hands on a leaked Scottish Government report which detailed things they could possibly do to reduce carbon emissions.

It's legally mandated that Scotland must reduce these by 42% by 2020. Unfortunately current government policies will fall far short of this target. So some green-sky thinking was needed.

Rather unimaginatively, most of the initiatives in the report tackle car use:

Stricter enforcement of current speed limits
Cutting speed limit from 70mph to 60mph on some roads
Introducing variable speed limits and average speed enforcement
Road pricing costing motorists an extra 5p/km
£300-a-year workplace parking levy
50% increase in on-street parking charges
Boost membership of city car clubs
Free training for motorists on “eco-driving”
£5,000 grants for buyers of low carbon vehicles
Improved travel planning by households, businesses and schools
Incentives for councils to invest in low carbon cars
Improvements in van and road freight efficiency

Road pricing is an idea whose time will come for whatever UK government is brave enough to implement it in place of Road Tax - I can't really see a Scottish Government imposing it unilaterally. On the other hand, a UK government might be happy to use Scotland as a test case for it.

Average speed cameras could be in place relatively quickly on all our motorways. The report reckons by 2012. It always amazes me how people can argue that they have a right to break the law in their car by going as fast as they can. Surely average speed cameras are something that no opposition party can oppose?

As for Free training for motorists on “eco-driving”, I have to admit I don't see the point. As far as I'm aware, this has now been implemented into driving lessons (or is it just some enlightened motoring schools which teach it?), and if not then that's when to do it.

So now that we've hit the motorist, let's look at the public transport proposals:

Big increases in spending on cycling and walking facilities
New fund to improve provisions for buses and taxis
Major investment in high speed rail and other rail improvements
Incentives to shift freight from road to rail and water
Using planning policy to reduce need to travel

Hmm, not as fleshed out. But here's an idea I'll give them for free. Instead of using money to train motorists on "eco-driving", why not provide every household with a printed bus timetable for their nearest stop? If someone sees that there's a bus that can get them to work for 9am in almost the same amount of time as they take in the car, they'll be more likely to use it. If they're ignorant of the timetable, they won't use the bus.

Onto farming and land use:

Encouraging farmers to cut pollution and waste
Grants for anaerobic digestion facilities for farmers
Immunisation programme for cattle diarrhoea
Linking farm subsidies to cutting climate pollution
Incentives to plant 15,000 hectares of new woodland a year
Restore peat bogs to store carbon

The National Farmers Union are upset at the idea of losing their subsidies, and I partly agree with them that there should be more carrot and less stick in almost everything, not just their industry. But sometimes, there comes a point when you have to use the stick.

Waste:

Bans on dumping food and recyclable waste as landfill

This should be a no-brainer, but I'm surprised that it's their only policy on this issue (although admittedly they did publish a Zero-Waste Plan earlier this year). How about a ban on incinerating waste as well?

Housing & Buildings:

Energy saving schemes for homes
Doubling energy standards for new buildings
Leaflet campaign to boost energy efficiency
Improved energy efficiency in non-domestic buildings
New standards to cut emissions from social housing
Energy-saving loans for businesses

According to Rob Edward's article, the government seems finally ready to implement the Scottish Green's long-asked-for policy of improving insulation in every building.

I'm also intrigued by their 'New standards to cut emissions from social housing'. Here's another idea I'll give them for free: mandate that all white goods and electrical items in ALL rented accommodation, private or public, must be less than ten years old. I once rented a flat in Edinburgh where the fridge was older than I was! This policy ensures relatively energy-efficient appliances throughout vast swathes of our housing sector. (Although I'll acknowledge that I'm ignoring the environmental costs of dumping so many old white goods at the same time!)

So there you go, 30 things that the Scottish Government themselves have come up with and are prepared to discuss. I just wonder how many of them will get implemented?