Early on, Great Britain realized that climate change would be one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. Government and business have responded with innovative policies and investments. But can one of the world's richest countries really lead an industrial revolution towards a climate-friendly future?
 | Picture Gallery (click on the picture to start)Wind turbines in Scotland. The UK has Europe's biggest growth potential for wind power. Click on the image to see more climate problems and solutions in the UK (Photo: Reuters) |
Tony Blair once called climate change "the biggest long-term threat facing our world." After ten years as prime minister, Blair left behind an ambivalent legacy. His efforts to turn the United Kingdom into the world's leading country in the fight against climate change, however, could earn him a place in history books.
In autumn 2006, the government-funded Stern Report on the staggering costs of climate change delivered a wake-up call to governments and businesses around the world still reluctant to take the expensive measures to fight global warming.
The British government followed that up with the Climate Change Act in 2008 that pledges to reduce national carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and at least 26 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. With its service-oriented, low-carbon industry, and an overarching public consensus on the threat of climate change, Britain is well-placed to attempt to reach such an ambitious goal.
Exploding Emissions from Air Travel
The question becomes how to hit those targets. Up to now, the focus of UK policymaking has been on raising public awareness about climate change, changing consumer behavior, and reducing the industrial carbon footprint through mandatory emissions caps and emissions trading. It is clear, however, that such efforts will have to be ramped up.
One challenge will be reducing emissions from air travel, which now produces 5.5 percent of emissions created in the UK, home to Europe's busiest airport, London Heathrow. And this figure doesn't even take into account that the warming effect of greenhouse gases emitted in higher layers of the atmosphere is worse than at sea level.
Given the current rate of air traffic growth in the era of discount airlines, air travel could account for as much as a quarter of all UK emissions by mid-century or earlier.
Business Opportunity of the Century?
Britain must also improve energy efficiency in homes, responsible for around one third of all national emissions.
More "green" taxes are an option, but government is also considering alternatives. Britain has been the first country to propose the idea of domestic carbon trading, which would set limits on household annual carbon dioxide emissions, and allow people to trade their surplus.
Former Environment Minister David Miliband said the concept could be preferable to "carbon taxes," because it would give households more flexibility and could eventually lead to substantial emissions reductions. Critics say such a scheme is not yet feasible.
Britain is also trying to cultivate the idea of climate change as not just a challenge, but also a profitable business opportunity. Since the advent of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, London has become a central hub of the European carbon trading market.
And while prices for most of the commodities traded in London crashed in 2008, net value of the EU carbon market soared from 14.6 billion Euro in 2006 to 67 billion euros in 2008.
Meanwhile some of the largest British corporations - British Telecom, Virgin, HSBC, and BP, to name a few - have invested millions of pounds to develop products for a low-carbon economy, or have saved millions by improving efficiency, purchasing renewable energies, and reducing emissions.
editor: Valdis Wish
latest update: May 28, 2009
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