Renewable Heat Incentive challenges Ofgem

Around this time last month, Ofgem advised on its homepage that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme was going to be delayed as the European Commission has expressed reservations over the over the large biomass tariff. (It was supposed to be open by the end of September.) This morning, I received an email notification from Ofgem that the scheme will ‘finally’ be open for applications by the end of November 2011, subject to state aid approval by the parliament. Even so, a parliamentary approval does not necessarily mean a comfortable road ahead for Ofgem.

The prospect of the United Nations’ climate change negotiating framework: implications from Copenhagen and Cancun

Concluded with a piece of “Copenhagen Accord” that is not legally binding, thirteen days of seesaw battles on Denmark’s negotiation table did not yield any substantial results. Neither did the end of another twelve days of climate change conference in Mexico a year later in 2010, marked with a "Cancun Agreement" that achieved nothing but money – the Green Climate Fund. For years, state leaders have gone home almost empty-handed. The international community, hitherto, have not accomplished the mission to complete the negotiations on the international climate change regime for periods from 2012 by late 2009 as enshrined in Bali Roadmap. Copenhagen and Cancun summits all proceeded within the UN’s framework agreed in 1992, but a comprehensive, all-encompassing and legally binding climate change deal which many activists and governments want remains out of reach for the world. Actually, is the current climate change negotiating framework outdated? To answer this question, we have to analyse briefly the outcomes of both conferences first.

The green agenda ‘is’ the emergency plan

“Check, Switch, Insulate” is the achievement after the energy prices summit chaired by the prime minister this month. It is no different from just saying “God bless you” to people in predicament. Why don’t the government consider leveraging the green agenda - distributed generation - to fuel growth while suppress energy prices? Here, I am not just talking about the energy prices, but the strategy Britain desperately needs for economic growth.

Last week, columnist Leo McKinstry suggested in his ten-pronged emergency plan for Britain’s economy, published in Daily Express on 10 Oct 2011, that the green agenda be abandoned in the current economic recession. A day later, Lord Young, the former Trade & Industry Secretary, echoed in The Times (11 Oct) that this was no time to waste our money on windmills. In their views, promoting renewable energy simply represents the triumph of scientific uncertainty but “cripples us economically” as it is destroying our industries and pushing up our utility bills. I consider this opinion completely ludicrous. Instead, the green agenda should be the key to economic recovery.

         

Carrier bag levy for England - Can we learn a lesson from Hong Kong?

No doubt that carrier bags are really bad for the environment. In a bid to cut back on their “excessive” use, from this month, a charge of 5p per single-use carrier bag is introduced in Wales, with England and Scotland expected to begin public consultations soon. Applause should be given to the government when environmental issues are moving up the political agenda, but some green campaigners grumble over a 5p charge being not good enough. It, however, reminds me of the not-so-successful “plastic bag tax” imposed in Hong Kong since mid-2009.[1] The writer is apprehensive that the new levy may turn out to be a similar game of numbers. When the Government are liaising with the retailers, can we actually learn a lesson from the former colony?