Climate

The government will this week unveil plans to treble tree-planting rates in England by the end of this parliament.The initiative is part of a an effort to demonstrate commitment to restoring the national environment ahead of the United Nations COP26 conference being hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November.Setting out plans in a speech on Tuesday, the environment secretary, George Eustice, will point to February’s Dasgupta Review, which set out the role of biodiversity in economic growth.He is expected to say: “We are putting plans in place to treble woodland creation rates by the end of this parliament, reflecting England’s contribution to meeting the UK’s overall target of planting 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament.“We will make sure that the right trees are planted in the right places and that more green jobs are created in the forestry sector.”Looking back over the coronavirus pandemic of the past year, Mr Eustice will say: “The events of the last 12 months have led people to appreciate the difference that nature makes to our lives more than ever before.“There is an increased awareness of the link between our own health, and economic prosperity, and that of the planet – as highlighted by the recent Dasgupta Review of the economics of biodiversity.”In a speech outlining the government’s ambitions to create more woodlands, protect peatlands and boost biodiversity, Mr Eustice will say that increased tree-planting will form a central pillar in the UK’s efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.Under the new target, approximately 7,000 hectares of woodlands will be planted per year by May 2024, alongside new initiatives to improve the health of our trees, create more woodlands in cities, and deliver thousands of green jobs.An England Trees Action Plan will set out the ambition of continuing current planting trends for woodlands made up of mostly native broadleaf trees. More

The lone climate activist unfurled a banner reading “Climate Assembly, be bold” as part of a call for a more radical approach from Scotland’s Climate Assembly on Thursday morning.Police officers were waiting at the entrance of the Scottish Parliament and arrested the 61-year-old protester upon descent. The Climate Assembly, which was created as part of the 2019 Climate Change Act, has been accused of being “frightened of rocking the boat”. Extinction Rebellion, the radical climate activism group, said they were part of the assembly’s stewarding group but had pulled out. Justin Kenrick, a former member of the stewarding group, said: “There was never any evaluation of the seriousness of the climate emergency.“There was a lot of focus on being fair to different sectors in Scotland but not fairness to those elsewhere in the world suffering now or to future generations. To be fair in that fundamental way you have to first assess how serious the emergency is, and the assembly never collectively had the opportunity to do that.” More

Savers who want to invest in protecting the environment are to be offered the opportunity to purchase the world’s first green savings bonds. The bonds, to be launched in Rishi Sunak’s Budget on Wednesday, will raise funds to invest in projects such as renewable energy and clean transport to support the government’s goal of the UK reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.The announcement will come alongside Mr Sunak unveiling in the 3 March statement reforms to the visa system to encourage high-skilled workers including researchers, engineers, scientists and tech experts to come to the UK.The new “elite” points-based routes will guarantee a visa for winners of international awards like the Nobel prizes and will allow highly-skilled migrants with a job offer from a fast-growth firm to qualify without the need for sponsorship or third-party endorsement.Mr Sunak said that the green savings bonds would help drive innovation in the technologies needed to reduce the UK’s reliance on greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels.“The UK is a global leader on tackling climate change, with a clear target to reach net zero by 2050 and a 10-point plan to create green jobs as we transition to a greener future,” he said.“In a world first, we’re launching a new green savings bond which will give people across the UK the opportunity to contribute to the collective effort to tackle climate change. More

Court proceedings have been launched against a climate charity lawyer for leaking a decision to expand Heathrow Airport.In December, shortly before the Supreme Court’s judgment was delivered giving the go-ahead to a third runway, Mr Crosland deliberately broke an embargo on the decision, making it public.He was referred to the attorney general for contempt of court, and now the solicitor general Michael Ellis has launched proceedings that could lead to his being sent to prison.Mr Crosland said he had no choice but to protest against “the deep immorality of the court’s ruling” when he broke the embargo. The Court of Appeal had initially blocked any Heathrow expansion, ruling that the government had acted unlawfully in failing to take into account the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rises to no more than 2C by limiting greenhouse gas emissions.But the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal decision.The government says the Supreme Court’s draft judgement was circulated to those involved on a confidential basis, and it was made clear that breaching the embargo might be treated as a contempt of court.Mr Crosland, a barrister, said he broke the court’s embargo as “an act of civil disobedience”.In an article forThe Independent, he wrote that had he not revealed the Heathrow decision early, he believed he would have been complicit in a “cover-up”. He claimed the Supreme Court ruling “concealed” that when the government approved Heathrow’s expansion, it relied on a “dangerous and discredited” climate target.But Mr Ellis said: “After careful consideration, I have concluded that in order that the rule of law be upheld, contempt of court proceedings should be brought against Tim Crosland.“Irrespective of any personal views on any issue, there is no excuse for knowingly undermining court processes and proceedings.”Mr Crosland has also accused the government of hypocrisy in approving Heathrow expansion while hosting climate talks, Cop26, later this year, when it will urge other countries to limit their carbon output.He said: “The government is doing three things. It’s claiming to be a climate leader ahead of Cop26.“It’s supervising the opening of a new coal mine, continuing to spend billions of taxpayer money on fossil-fuel developments overseas and progressing carbon-intensive projects such as investment in the roads, expansion of Heathrow and HS2; meanwhile it’s suggesting that those who call out this treasonous hypocrisy and stand up for the future of our young people, our country and vulnerable communities everywhere, should be treated as organised criminals.”The government and supporters of Heathrow expansion say it would create thousands of new jobs.“It’s the government’s primary responsibility to safeguard the lives of its citizens from threats too complex for us to address as individuals,” Mr Crosland said.Supreme Court judges are due to consider the contempt of court case. More

Conservative MPs from the so-called “red wall” seats won from Labour at the last election have declared their support for a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria. The Northern Research Group MPs accused Labour of turning its back on northern communities by opposing the development at Whitehaven.In a letter to Cumbria County Council’s Labour leader, the 31 NRG MPs – joined by civic leaders from the north of England and a further 12 Tory MPs from elsewhere in the country – warned that threats to block the mine represent a “serious risk” to the area’s economy and jobs.But Labour’s business spokesperson Lucy Powell accused them of “ trying to con people with a false promise”, insisting the mine was not the answer to provide a long-term future for industry.The West Cumbria Mining plans to dig coking coal for use in the UK steel industry were initially approved in 2019, but have split the county, with some welcoming the prospect of skilled jobs and others fighting the proposal on environmental grounds.Formal planning consent is yet to be granted, and on 9 February the council announced it would reconsider the initial approval in the light of the recommendations of the government’s Committee for Climate Change on planned cuts to greenhouse gas emissions after 2033.The rethink came amid reports that that the UK president of November’s United Nations Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Alok Sharma, was “apoplectic” at cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick’s failure to “call in” the plan.It was welcomed by Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband, who said: “The UK cannot claim to be a climate leader whilst opening a new coal mine.”The application is likely to be considered at a council planning meeting in April, but a final decision is not expected until after the local council elections in May.Today’s letter to council leader Stewart Young is signed by Cumbria Tory MPs Trudy Harrison (Copeland), Mark Jenkinson (Workington), Simon Fell (Barrow in Furness) and John Stevenson (Carlisle), as well as others from newly-won seats in the north of England and Conservative mayors of Copeland and Tees Valley.They warned the council might be open to legal challenge for taking into account recommendations which have not yet been adopted by the government, and called on Mr Young to publish internal legal and planning advice to show that the decision to reconsider was not “political”.Mr Stevenson described Labour opposition to the plan as “a direct attack on industry and job creation”, denying Cumbria of more than 500 well-paid jobs at the mine and 2,000 more in the supply chain.And Mr Fell said: “Steel underpins every single renewable technology that we need to employ to hit our net zero target and we cannot make that steel without coking coal. “The choice we face is whether to offshore the carbon debt of mining coking coal to countries like Russia and accept the huge environmental and humanitarian cost of doing so, or to allow this mine to proceed and wrap our own high environmental standards around it. “We simply can’t pretend that this is all someone else’s problem and pat ourselves on the back for hitting net zero 2050 while outsourcing the problem elsewhere. By opposing it, Labour is showing once again that they are out of touch with working class communities in the north of England.” But Ms Powell said: “Not for the first time, Tory MPs are trying to con people with a false promise. “The Cumbria coal mine is not an answer to the issues facing our steel industry. Eighty-five per cent of its production is due for export, and this plant will not address the financial challenges facing the industry going forward or provide it with a long-term future.“We won’t take lectures from the Conservative Party about standing up for UK steel making and the communities which support it, as they’ve failed to tackle the issue of high energy prices steelmakers are facing.“We need investment to help the steel industry to get through the worst economic crisis of any major economy, safeguard primary steel-making, and support the transition to a decarbonised future, protecting jobs and livelihoods. “That’s why Labour has called for a £30bn green recovery to turbocharge our economic recovery and deliver a secure, long-term future for our steel industry.”Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Tony Bosworth said the letter’s signatories “should be listening to climate experts about this mine”.Mr Bosworth said: “Last month the government’s official climate advisers warned that a new mine in Cumbria would increase global emissions and have a negative impact on the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets. “It will also put a massive dent in the UK government’s credibility ahead of crucial climate talks in Glasgow later this year.“West Cumbria, like other parts of the country, desperately needs new jobs – but these should be green jobs created by investing in a cleaner, safer economy, rather than extracting more fossil fuels that help accelerate the climate crisis.”Cumbria County Council declined to comment on the letter. 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