A report has been prepared for the Committee on Climate Change, which advises ministers how to cut the UK's carbon footprint. It says an upheaval in our the UK government must tell the public small, easy changes will not be enough to tackle climate change. It says an upheaval in our lifestyles is the only way to meet targets. We must eat less meat and dairy, swap cars for bikes, take fewer flights, and ditch gas boilers at home. It says subsidies for fossil fuels have to go and taxes on low-carbon technologies must be cut. It also urges the government to consider introducing a carbon tax, increasing the prices of carbon-intensive products and activities. It is necessary, the report says, if Britain is to achieve its Net Zero ambitions.
Chris Stark, the Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change, explains the government's plan for cutting emissions is "not nearly at the level of ambition required".
Food currently accounts for 30% of a household's carbon footprint in high-income countries like the UK. The report says we need to make a significant shift towards lower-carbon foods, particularly towards more plant-based diets. Producing food from animals uses more resources than food from plants. Some animals,also produce and burp up methane - a powerful greenhouse gas. The Committee on Climate Change's official recommendation to government is that a 20% cut in red meat and dairy is needed. It suggests this could be done by cutting farm subsidies - more than 70% of which go to livestock.
Home heating accounts for 21% of a household's carbon footprint and it will be costly to bring it down. With 30 million homes and 30 years to decarbonise, he argues, "simple arithmetic" suggests we need to "decarbonise" one million homes every year, starting now.
Transport currently accounts for 34% of a household's carbon footprint. The report calls for a major programme of investment in the rail and bus network, with lower ticket prices and investment in safer cycling. It says what's needed is a "modal shift" to public transport, walking and cycling and believes the public can be encouraged to do this, in part, because of the health benefits it would bring. It calls for an "Air Miles Levy" to discourage what it calls "excessive flying". The idea is to penalise frequent flyers, while not raising prices for people taking an annual holiday. It says air miles and frequent flier reward schemes have to go.
The
Socialist Party understands that the capitalist mode of production
cannot halt the impending climate catastrophe, no matter what amount
of carbon trading and carbon taxes and “green”
technologies are introduced. It is the socialist transformation of
society which is absolutely necessary for survival. The struggles to
halt environmental destruction and capitalism itself must be waged
simultaneously. Capitalism presents millions of workers with the
impossible choice: Your job or your life. The task ahead is to build
a socialist vision across national borders to see and seek a common
future that will be in their own interests and those of their
children. The Socialist Party's goal is to overcome capitalism and
unleash the creativity that prioritizes meeting human needs
sustainably and equitably. Deeply
entrenched within the existing capitalist system which we can all
recognize is the understanding that sustainability is simply
incompatible with the most basic imperative of capitalist production.
That imperative is
growth — meaning expanding the marking for the production for
profit, whether or not it enhances or degrades human lives, the
viability of life on Earth, or anything else.
The
problem is not that people are irrational and destined to
over-populate and pollute the planet: in other words, that the
environmental crisis is caused by mankind. The idea that the Earth
already or will be soon has too many people is completely bogus.
These ideas are anti-people in their essence and frequently
pro-racist. The only solution to our problems lies in uniting the
overwhelming majority of the people so as to overthrow the handful of
capitalists who are definitely “polluting” the whole world. Our
message to everyone everywhere is that the climate crisis will impact
our jobs, health, children and communities and our answer is simple:
join us. It’s a struggle for sanity and the survival of
civilisation. If we don’t overcome capitalism, we’ll all wind up
as climate refugees with nowhere to go.
It’s
as if nature itself is in rebellion against the capitalist mode of
production and posing the question to us of which side we want to be
on. The machine of global capitalism, its
disparities in wealth and its militarism, are responsible for our
ravaged planet.
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