What I think about Climate Change #3: Norman Baker MP

Another in our “what the MP’s were saying in 2006” series. This time it’s Norman Baker MP. These days he’s the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport.

Norman Baker Lewes, Lib Dem;
Chair, All-Party Environment Group

1: Climate change is a threat greater than any other faced by mankind and is therefore the most important political issue of our time. This means that we need to take urgent action on both the domestic and international stages. Climate change is a reality today, and is already having a huge impact on natural systems across the world, with ice-caps in retreat, coral reef bleaching, the extinction of numerous species, and increased frequency of extreme weather events. In the future, if insufficient action is taken, we face the prospect of catastrophic flooding in some countries alongside ruinous drought and famine in others. This will mean not only terrible human suffering, but economic disaster as well. I very much welcome the recent Stern Review, which may at last make those who somehow believe that the economy and environment are separate matters realize that, rather they are inextricably linked. If we want to stop the worst impacts of climate change, I believe it is vitally important that the average global temperature increases stay below 2°C from pre-industrial levels. Unfortunately, however, we are already much of the way there. Avoiding rises in temperature beyond 2ºC will therefore require dramatic and urgent reductions in emissions of greenhouses gases by all industrialised countries.

 

2: Firstly, Britain needs to lead by example by putting its own house in order. The government has already admitted that the UK is going to miss the target of a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2010 and figures show that emissions of CO2 have actually been rising year on year. This is quite simply unacceptable. We therefore need radical and innovative measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, backed up by a timetable of annual, binding targets. We need to make significant changes to the tax system to incorporate green taxes and market mechanisms that discourage environmentally unfriendly behaviour and, in turn, reward sustainable lifestyle choices. In particular we need to make significant progress on reducing emissions from aviation and make far- reaching changes to our energy policy to reduce demand, increase efficiency and develop the use of a wide variety of renewable energy sources. On the international stage, Britain should use its so-called ‘special relationship’ with the US to push for action from the world’s biggest polluter, and more generally use our international status to promote a new, enforceable international agreement to reduce emissions to a sustainable level based on the so-called principles of contraction and convergence.

3: As I have become more aware of the dangers of climate change, my family and I have made a large number of changes to our lifestyle and consumption patterns over the years in order to reduce our carbon footprint. At home, we try to recycle as much as possible, and any kitchen or garden waste gets put in our compost bin. We make an effort to shop for food which is locally sourced and in season, thereby cutting food miles to a minimum, and I try to avoid food and other products with excess packaging. We are changing all my lights to energy saving bulbs as they expire, and we also make energy efficiency an important consideration when we buy any new domestic appliances. We have sourced our electricity from a green supplier. My role as an MP inevitably involves a lot of travelling, but we are now managing with just one car which we try to use a little as possible. Instead, I make the most of public transport always travelling by train between my constituency in Lewes and London and also increasingly around my constituency. If I have to travel within Europe, I can nearly always use the train rather than the plane, but when air travel is inevitable, I offset my carbon emissions. Over the years, both as the former Lib Dem Shadow Environment Secretary and current chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Environment group, I have made climate change my top priority, trying to raise awareness among fellow parliamentarians, constituents and members of the public. If all of us make small changes to our habits and lifestyles, then the cumulative effect will actually have a significant impact on our greenhouse gas emissions. We can all do something to help tackle climate change.