Tweet
For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
What's New and our ScotNews feed are now working again although in different formats from previous. The What's New page is now a simple web page but I've used the Google product to display the ScotNews feed which can be found at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Scottish...asporaNewsFeed
------
Our Christmas Page
Due to all the changes going on these days with Flash and other old formats causing issues I've found that a lot of our old games only work with Internet Explorer. And so if you go to our Christmas page at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/index98.htm you'll likely find lots of issues. Mind that all our games have been running for over 15 years without any issues at all so if you still want to try them out you need to get a copy of Internet Explorer.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Children under 12s can no longer 'commit crime' in Scotland
Previously children as young as eight could be held responsible for criminal acts - the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50592111
Danes see Greenland security risk amid Arctic tensions
The FE's head Lars Findsen said Greenland was now a top security issue for Denmark because a power game is unfolding between the US and other global powers in the Arctic.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50598898
Scottish World War Two hero given Royal Marines tribute after his death at 102
Armed forces legend Arthur Walters was one of the last survivors of the first World War Two air raids on Britain.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-hero-20991862
Canadian islanders angry over US mail searches
Canada Post confirmed that US agents have the right to stop and search any truck at their discretion and detain or seize inadmissible items - and says it's working on a solution. Campobello is the only place in Canada where you can't get there from here without going through the States,
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49901455
A US town only reached through Canada
Visitors to the exclave of Point Roberts must drive through Canada to enter the United States. It’s a tiny town with empty beaches, pods of orcas and dozens of gas pumps.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2019...through-canada
Scientists hunt for descendants of 48 people who signed 1320 Scottish independence declaration
Genealogists at Strathclyde University have launched a search to find the families of those who signed the historic Declaration of Arbroath ahead of 700th anniversary.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...s-who-20998626
Bank of England's Carney to become U.N. climate finance envoy
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will lead a push by the United Nations to make the finance sector take proper account of the risks posed by climate change, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cl...-idUKKBN1Y5128
Canada's premiers discuss demands to new Trudeau govt. as oil patch struggles
The premiers of Canada’s provincial and territorial governments began meeting on Monday to discuss their demands to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new government as frustration simmers in the Western oil patch.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ca...KBN1Y61RH?il=0
Why Estonian pupils shine in global tests
It outperforms the major European economies, including the UK, in influential global education tests.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50590581
Pisa: Mixed report for Scottish education in world rankings
Scotland has been given a mixed report in an important piece of international research on education.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50642855
Scotland and the EU
Sturgeon's myth and the EU reality
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/todays-...ead_full=14034
Five star Oor Wullie: Critics hail musical
The stage show, which opened in Dundee last weekend, has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as fans flock to see Oor Wullie like they’ve never seen him before.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/five-s...s-hail-musical
70 officials blow whistle on Labour over antisemitism
Seventy serving and former Labour officials have turned whistleblower and given sworn statements to the official investigation into the party’s antisemitism crisis.
Read more at:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/104871...anti-semitism/
Police watchdog chief Susan Deacon quits over fundamentally flawed system
It is her criticism of the way the national force is scrutinised and held to account which will cause concern, particularly her view that current governance and accountability arrangements are fundamentally flawed.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...itics-50671357
Scottish Power to add solar and battery power to wind farms
The amount of energy harnessed through solar power is set to increase.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50673983
The eco-friendly flat wine bottle that fits through your mail slot
London-based company Garcon Wines has re-designed the wine bottle to be more environmentally friendly, lower in transport costs and able to fit through your letterbox.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/video/2019/12...e=Oddly+Enough
Electric Canadian
Desmond Morton
A Canadian Historian who we've added to our Makers of Canada.
You can read about him at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...on_desmond.htm
The British Colonist is a Canadian newspaper first printed in 1858 in BC
I have published a bit about the newspaper on our Magazine page at the foot where I have also provided a link to many copies on the Internet Archive.
See this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/magazines/index.htm
The Canadian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men
Ontario volume (1880) (pdf)
See https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...naryontrio.pdf
Quebec and the Maritime provinces volume (1881) (pdf)
See https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...naryquebec.pdf
The Life and Times of the Rev. Robert Burns, D.D. F.A.S., F.R.S.E, Toronto
Including an unfinished Autobiography by The Rev. R. F. Burns, D. D., Montreal (1872) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...rnstoronto.pdf
Telugu Trophies
The Jubilee Story of some of the principal Telugu converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924 by the Canadian Baptist Foreign Board Jubilee Volume (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...NCPioneers.pdf
Electric Scotland
Clam Munro of Australia
Got in their December 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...unro/index.htm
Home Preacher
Added Service 18 by Dr. Morgan which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/h...her/week18.htm
Scottish Society of Louisville
Got in the December 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
Fund of Stories for Alastair McIntyre
STORIES SAVED (and adapted) FROM VARIOUS SOURCES (including the Glasgow Herald Diary) and contributed by the late John Henderson.
John send me this text file so I could use it in my various newsletters to add a touch of humour. I've decided to make this available in text format for you to read but also to help any clan newsletter editors out there. You can get this at:
https://electricscotland.com/humour/...20McIntyre.txt
Wax Seal of James Earl of Erroll
Got in an email providing a graphic of this seal which you can see t the foot of the page at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...chapter4s2.htm
Ross-Ter 2019 End of Year Report.
Doug Ross and Family 2019 report which can be read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ssreport37.pdf
A View of the Coinage of Scotland
With copious tables, lists, descriptions, and extracts from Acts of Parliament; and an account of numerous hords or parcels of coins discovered in Scotland and of Scottish coins found in Ireland illustrated with upwards of 350 engravings of Scottish coins, a large number of then unpublished by John Lindsay, Esq., Barrister at Law (1845) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/books/p...fcoinage01.pdf
Stan Bruce
Got in another book from Stanley Bruce on his series of books on the Shipbuilders of Aberdeen along with three new poems. William Stephen & Co. William Stephen & Sons and Alexander Stephen & Sons is the book and the poems are: Brought To Life, The First Cut and The Outfitting Quay and he's also done an audio recording of the poems.
You can read and listen to these at: https://electricscotland.com/history...ipbuilding.htm
The Whigs of Scotland or, the Last of the Stuarts
An historical romance of the Scottish Persecution in two volumes by William Craig Brownlee (1833)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/history/whigs.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added section 1 of the December 2019 issue which you can get at:
https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
The Story
How to build a green economy that boosts growth and saves the planet
By Dr Gerard Lyons on Capx
In the past there has been scepticism about climate change. The scientific evidence has put paid to that. It is unequivocal.
Now, instead, the scepticism appears to be about whether economic growth can be achieved alongside addressing climate change. It can. But this message needs to made clear.
The UK’s progress in addressing climate change is admirable; it is now high up our political agenda and in late 2020 we will host a possible game changing summit on this issue in Glasgow. Decline in UK greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 - 44%.
The most important previous annual summit was the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21), held in Paris in December 2015. There, countries committed to the Paris Agreement, including unveiling national plans to address climate change. As the 2006 Stern Report made clear, the costs of action are less than those of inaction.
This week in Madrid at COP 25, two unresolved issues from Paris have featured: having a common time frame for national plans; and the need for international carbon markets. Both are indispensable. Closing the emissions gap is essential and a global market mechanism, with a carbon price, is part of the solution.
There still needs to be a robust economic debate about the best way forward. My concern is the linking of a climate crisis with a desire to throw out our current economic model. Addressing climate change should be complimentary to economic growth globally, and not tied to an anti-growth agenda. It is also part of helping rebalance the UK economy.
This requires sensible public policy but can only succeed with the financial and private sector onside. There needs to be not only better policy, a social agenda, but a profit motive too.
Between 1990 and 2017 the UK’s emissions of total greenhouse gases have been reduced by 42% and continue to fall. Currently, such emissions in the UK emanate from: transport 27%, energy supply 24%, business 17%, residential 15%, agriculture 10% and waste management 4%.
During 2019 the UK Government committed to achieving “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. This would end the UK’s contribution to global warming. This implies a focus on emissions reduction and removing as much carbon as we put into the atmosphere. Reforestation as well as increased carbon capture and storage would be part of this, plus likely new technologies.
It will have major implications for farming and land use. Farmers, and businesses more generally, will respond to regulations and changing human behaviour. In addition to being asked to fly and travel less, people may eat less meat, consume less milk and dairy products and eat from local sources and more seasonal foods. There is already underway a UK-led Dasgupta Review into the economics of biodiversity. One outcome may include aligning the needs of investors’ environmental objectives with what can be achieved on the ground.
Incentives matter and the UK has the ability to use this to its advantage. Stronger sustainable growth would likely require more investment in high productive areas such as technical innovation, mechanisation and energy. Already there has been increased use of renewables (although oil and gas will still remain important)
Improving the energy efficiency of homes is essential, but retrofitting and changing energy sources needs to be handled carefully to minimise cost.
The UK’s role in greening the financial sector is pivotal. One consequence will be that banks and insurance companies better manage their risks in the area of climate change and there will be greater incentives for lending to clean growth areas. This is meaningful. The economics of smart cities, sustainable finance and green growth are part of the current Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Actions will drive the outlook. The Grantham Institute has produced a list of nine things people can do in their everyday behaviour. These range from protecting green spaces to reducing energy use and to responsible investment. Indeed, across the private sector, firms are starting to respond to changing consumer habits, and to highlighting their green credentials. This is welcome.
As well as informing people so that they can choose freely, it is important to aim for market solutions instead of removing or restricting market access. For instance, suggesting people are taxed heavily for their once-a-year holiday flight may not be credible, particularly if advocated by those who show little intention of cutting down their own air travel. So one focus should be on more fuel efficient planes and carbon offsets.
While we show leadership at home, the reality is that this is a global challenge. So, over the next year, the big focus is whether we can not only move the climate change agenda forward but to do so in an all encompassing way for more nations. This has to be a pro-economic growth friendly direction to ensure global buy-in.
In line with the aims of COP 21 in Paris more countries must update their national plans and climate action pledges by Glasgow 2020. There is a need to bring ambition into line with targets, and more countries should have long-term strategies of net zero by mid-century.
Since Paris, the global picture is mixed. The biggest challenge is that the US plans to leave this global agreement the day after the 2020 US Presidential election. In contrast, China’s Five Year Plan points to continued pollution control. Another challenge is to encourage countries located along China’s global Belt Road Initiative not to opt for coal production to meet their energy needs.
Climate action is one of the all-important Sustainable Development Goals that the UN and all countries can commit to. Hence the national action plans of small or poorer countries are critical, as is how they can be helped.
Expect a focus on raising long-term finance on an ongoing basis to help green the planet. Earlier this year, a newly formed Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action was formed. They endorsed the Helsinki Principles to drive growth and promote national climate action through fiscal policy.
Also, as we are seeing with the European Central Bank, the green agenda may have wider policy implications, and may influence their future bond buying.
There is ample scope to develop international public policy in areas such as carbon pricing and taxation, perhaps of international business travel, and prioritising research into clean energy of all forms.
Data, too, needs to be used to provide timely and accurate information. This includes transparency in achieving national plans on pollution control or in terms of how we can assess other areas of this debate.
Above all, there needs to be a greater role for the private sector in climate action, including mobilising private finance to invest in green schemes. Achieving success should not be at the expense of economic progress and points to more sustainable future growth.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
What's New and our ScotNews feed are now working again although in different formats from previous. The What's New page is now a simple web page but I've used the Google product to display the ScotNews feed which can be found at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Scottish...asporaNewsFeed
------
Our Christmas Page
Due to all the changes going on these days with Flash and other old formats causing issues I've found that a lot of our old games only work with Internet Explorer. And so if you go to our Christmas page at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/index98.htm you'll likely find lots of issues. Mind that all our games have been running for over 15 years without any issues at all so if you still want to try them out you need to get a copy of Internet Explorer.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Children under 12s can no longer 'commit crime' in Scotland
Previously children as young as eight could be held responsible for criminal acts - the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50592111
Danes see Greenland security risk amid Arctic tensions
The FE's head Lars Findsen said Greenland was now a top security issue for Denmark because a power game is unfolding between the US and other global powers in the Arctic.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50598898
Scottish World War Two hero given Royal Marines tribute after his death at 102
Armed forces legend Arthur Walters was one of the last survivors of the first World War Two air raids on Britain.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-hero-20991862
Canadian islanders angry over US mail searches
Canada Post confirmed that US agents have the right to stop and search any truck at their discretion and detain or seize inadmissible items - and says it's working on a solution. Campobello is the only place in Canada where you can't get there from here without going through the States,
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49901455
A US town only reached through Canada
Visitors to the exclave of Point Roberts must drive through Canada to enter the United States. It’s a tiny town with empty beaches, pods of orcas and dozens of gas pumps.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2019...through-canada
Scientists hunt for descendants of 48 people who signed 1320 Scottish independence declaration
Genealogists at Strathclyde University have launched a search to find the families of those who signed the historic Declaration of Arbroath ahead of 700th anniversary.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...s-who-20998626
Bank of England's Carney to become U.N. climate finance envoy
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will lead a push by the United Nations to make the finance sector take proper account of the risks posed by climate change, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cl...-idUKKBN1Y5128
Canada's premiers discuss demands to new Trudeau govt. as oil patch struggles
The premiers of Canada’s provincial and territorial governments began meeting on Monday to discuss their demands to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new government as frustration simmers in the Western oil patch.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ca...KBN1Y61RH?il=0
Why Estonian pupils shine in global tests
It outperforms the major European economies, including the UK, in influential global education tests.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50590581
Pisa: Mixed report for Scottish education in world rankings
Scotland has been given a mixed report in an important piece of international research on education.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50642855
Scotland and the EU
Sturgeon's myth and the EU reality
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/todays-...ead_full=14034
Five star Oor Wullie: Critics hail musical
The stage show, which opened in Dundee last weekend, has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike as fans flock to see Oor Wullie like they’ve never seen him before.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/five-s...s-hail-musical
70 officials blow whistle on Labour over antisemitism
Seventy serving and former Labour officials have turned whistleblower and given sworn statements to the official investigation into the party’s antisemitism crisis.
Read more at:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/104871...anti-semitism/
Police watchdog chief Susan Deacon quits over fundamentally flawed system
It is her criticism of the way the national force is scrutinised and held to account which will cause concern, particularly her view that current governance and accountability arrangements are fundamentally flawed.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...itics-50671357
Scottish Power to add solar and battery power to wind farms
The amount of energy harnessed through solar power is set to increase.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-50673983
The eco-friendly flat wine bottle that fits through your mail slot
London-based company Garcon Wines has re-designed the wine bottle to be more environmentally friendly, lower in transport costs and able to fit through your letterbox.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/video/2019/12...e=Oddly+Enough
Electric Canadian
Desmond Morton
A Canadian Historian who we've added to our Makers of Canada.
You can read about him at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...on_desmond.htm
The British Colonist is a Canadian newspaper first printed in 1858 in BC
I have published a bit about the newspaper on our Magazine page at the foot where I have also provided a link to many copies on the Internet Archive.
See this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/magazines/index.htm
The Canadian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men
Ontario volume (1880) (pdf)
See https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...naryontrio.pdf
Quebec and the Maritime provinces volume (1881) (pdf)
See https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...naryquebec.pdf
The Life and Times of the Rev. Robert Burns, D.D. F.A.S., F.R.S.E, Toronto
Including an unfinished Autobiography by The Rev. R. F. Burns, D. D., Montreal (1872) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...rnstoronto.pdf
Telugu Trophies
The Jubilee Story of some of the principal Telugu converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924 by the Canadian Baptist Foreign Board Jubilee Volume (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...NCPioneers.pdf
Electric Scotland
Clam Munro of Australia
Got in their December 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...unro/index.htm
Home Preacher
Added Service 18 by Dr. Morgan which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/h...her/week18.htm
Scottish Society of Louisville
Got in the December 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
Fund of Stories for Alastair McIntyre
STORIES SAVED (and adapted) FROM VARIOUS SOURCES (including the Glasgow Herald Diary) and contributed by the late John Henderson.
John send me this text file so I could use it in my various newsletters to add a touch of humour. I've decided to make this available in text format for you to read but also to help any clan newsletter editors out there. You can get this at:
https://electricscotland.com/humour/...20McIntyre.txt
Wax Seal of James Earl of Erroll
Got in an email providing a graphic of this seal which you can see t the foot of the page at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...chapter4s2.htm
Ross-Ter 2019 End of Year Report.
Doug Ross and Family 2019 report which can be read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ssreport37.pdf
A View of the Coinage of Scotland
With copious tables, lists, descriptions, and extracts from Acts of Parliament; and an account of numerous hords or parcels of coins discovered in Scotland and of Scottish coins found in Ireland illustrated with upwards of 350 engravings of Scottish coins, a large number of then unpublished by John Lindsay, Esq., Barrister at Law (1845) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/books/p...fcoinage01.pdf
Stan Bruce
Got in another book from Stanley Bruce on his series of books on the Shipbuilders of Aberdeen along with three new poems. William Stephen & Co. William Stephen & Sons and Alexander Stephen & Sons is the book and the poems are: Brought To Life, The First Cut and The Outfitting Quay and he's also done an audio recording of the poems.
You can read and listen to these at: https://electricscotland.com/history...ipbuilding.htm
The Whigs of Scotland or, the Last of the Stuarts
An historical romance of the Scottish Persecution in two volumes by William Craig Brownlee (1833)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/history/whigs.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added section 1 of the December 2019 issue which you can get at:
https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
The Story
How to build a green economy that boosts growth and saves the planet
By Dr Gerard Lyons on Capx
In the past there has been scepticism about climate change. The scientific evidence has put paid to that. It is unequivocal.
Now, instead, the scepticism appears to be about whether economic growth can be achieved alongside addressing climate change. It can. But this message needs to made clear.
The UK’s progress in addressing climate change is admirable; it is now high up our political agenda and in late 2020 we will host a possible game changing summit on this issue in Glasgow. Decline in UK greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 - 44%.
The most important previous annual summit was the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21), held in Paris in December 2015. There, countries committed to the Paris Agreement, including unveiling national plans to address climate change. As the 2006 Stern Report made clear, the costs of action are less than those of inaction.
This week in Madrid at COP 25, two unresolved issues from Paris have featured: having a common time frame for national plans; and the need for international carbon markets. Both are indispensable. Closing the emissions gap is essential and a global market mechanism, with a carbon price, is part of the solution.
There still needs to be a robust economic debate about the best way forward. My concern is the linking of a climate crisis with a desire to throw out our current economic model. Addressing climate change should be complimentary to economic growth globally, and not tied to an anti-growth agenda. It is also part of helping rebalance the UK economy.
This requires sensible public policy but can only succeed with the financial and private sector onside. There needs to be not only better policy, a social agenda, but a profit motive too.
Between 1990 and 2017 the UK’s emissions of total greenhouse gases have been reduced by 42% and continue to fall. Currently, such emissions in the UK emanate from: transport 27%, energy supply 24%, business 17%, residential 15%, agriculture 10% and waste management 4%.
During 2019 the UK Government committed to achieving “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. This would end the UK’s contribution to global warming. This implies a focus on emissions reduction and removing as much carbon as we put into the atmosphere. Reforestation as well as increased carbon capture and storage would be part of this, plus likely new technologies.
It will have major implications for farming and land use. Farmers, and businesses more generally, will respond to regulations and changing human behaviour. In addition to being asked to fly and travel less, people may eat less meat, consume less milk and dairy products and eat from local sources and more seasonal foods. There is already underway a UK-led Dasgupta Review into the economics of biodiversity. One outcome may include aligning the needs of investors’ environmental objectives with what can be achieved on the ground.
Incentives matter and the UK has the ability to use this to its advantage. Stronger sustainable growth would likely require more investment in high productive areas such as technical innovation, mechanisation and energy. Already there has been increased use of renewables (although oil and gas will still remain important)
Improving the energy efficiency of homes is essential, but retrofitting and changing energy sources needs to be handled carefully to minimise cost.
The UK’s role in greening the financial sector is pivotal. One consequence will be that banks and insurance companies better manage their risks in the area of climate change and there will be greater incentives for lending to clean growth areas. This is meaningful. The economics of smart cities, sustainable finance and green growth are part of the current Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Actions will drive the outlook. The Grantham Institute has produced a list of nine things people can do in their everyday behaviour. These range from protecting green spaces to reducing energy use and to responsible investment. Indeed, across the private sector, firms are starting to respond to changing consumer habits, and to highlighting their green credentials. This is welcome.
As well as informing people so that they can choose freely, it is important to aim for market solutions instead of removing or restricting market access. For instance, suggesting people are taxed heavily for their once-a-year holiday flight may not be credible, particularly if advocated by those who show little intention of cutting down their own air travel. So one focus should be on more fuel efficient planes and carbon offsets.
While we show leadership at home, the reality is that this is a global challenge. So, over the next year, the big focus is whether we can not only move the climate change agenda forward but to do so in an all encompassing way for more nations. This has to be a pro-economic growth friendly direction to ensure global buy-in.
In line with the aims of COP 21 in Paris more countries must update their national plans and climate action pledges by Glasgow 2020. There is a need to bring ambition into line with targets, and more countries should have long-term strategies of net zero by mid-century.
Since Paris, the global picture is mixed. The biggest challenge is that the US plans to leave this global agreement the day after the 2020 US Presidential election. In contrast, China’s Five Year Plan points to continued pollution control. Another challenge is to encourage countries located along China’s global Belt Road Initiative not to opt for coal production to meet their energy needs.
Climate action is one of the all-important Sustainable Development Goals that the UN and all countries can commit to. Hence the national action plans of small or poorer countries are critical, as is how they can be helped.
Expect a focus on raising long-term finance on an ongoing basis to help green the planet. Earlier this year, a newly formed Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action was formed. They endorsed the Helsinki Principles to drive growth and promote national climate action through fiscal policy.
Also, as we are seeing with the European Central Bank, the green agenda may have wider policy implications, and may influence their future bond buying.
There is ample scope to develop international public policy in areas such as carbon pricing and taxation, perhaps of international business travel, and prioritising research into clean energy of all forms.
Data, too, needs to be used to provide timely and accurate information. This includes transparency in achieving national plans on pollution control or in terms of how we can assess other areas of this debate.
Above all, there needs to be a greater role for the private sector in climate action, including mobilising private finance to invest in green schemes. Achieving success should not be at the expense of economic progress and points to more sustainable future growth.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair