Why aren't the government making ClimateChange their top priority?

Carbon emissions from transport are still rising in the UK. Two parliamentary committees both concluded recently that we were not doing enough to reduce carbon emissions.

The first was the Environmental Audit Committee in its report on reducing carbon emissions from transport.

The second was the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee report on Climate Change: The Role of Bioenergy

It seems incredible to me that while the scientific community is saying that a quarter of all land animals and plants face extinction within the next century, and that one third of the land will become a desert, causing hundreds of millions of environmental refugees, Tony Blair stated that "The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge."

I, personally, do not believe it is a question of sacrificing the economy - just changing its focus. You are unlikely to have heard me speak on Radio 4's Farming Today programme a little while ago, but as I stated there, I think Tony Blair's true legacy will be that he failed to recognise the dangers of climate change, and failed to curb our carbon emissions accordingly.

I believe the government have an obligation to protect the people's future, which goes far beyond their need to follow popular vote-winning policies. If the public are not clamouring for action on Climate Change, then it is because the Government, (who have, after all, funded the Climate research), have failed to educate people of the danger and provide real alternatives.

It will take courage, vision and great leadership to unite the British people behind the idea that we need to take urgent action on Climate Change. The case of biofuels shows how Mr. Blair has let us down, and I have yet to hear Gordon Brown stand up and make a passionate speech about saving the planet. Even Zak Goldsmith, who is advising David Cameron on the environment, seems to see even a modest tax on aviation fuel as politically unacceptable.

Sadly, even though HMRC accept that the correct duty rate on rapeseed oil is currently 27.1p/l, they still seem under pressure to increase it, and are reviewing the current legislation. Please get your MP involved in the Biodiesel Definition Review if you can. The current legislation is fundamentally flawed, because it is defined in terms of the chemistry of the fuel, not the environmental benefit. That means it promotes Biodiesel feedstocks of Soya and Palm oil from the Borneo and Brazilian rainforests, as much as it promotes British rapeseed oil. How crazy it would be if they excluded local rapeseed oil, which has the lowest carbon footprint, but still continued to promote those imports!

Worse still, the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation which will probably replace the duty reduction on biofuels will promote imports of cheap Biofuel feedstocks from cleared rainforest areas on a vast scale, because again, it will not penalise the carbon dioxide released in the destruction of the rainforest. Apparently the government are too frightened that the World Trade Organisation will object to any restriction on importing these fuels to penalise them in any way.

If you haven't already done so, please tell your MP you want to see the duty on all fuels tied to their total environmental benefit. That means including penalising the release of CO2 when the rainforest is cleared, and the loss of the carbon-sink, and of biodiversity, and penalising the chemicals and energy used in processing those fuels. Locally grown rapeseed oil is a clear winner environmentally, but it cannot compete financially against rainforest imports.

The government is still treating Climate Change as if it were "Business as Usual", just one factor in the mix which has to somehow be made to fit in with economic growth. I urge you, please, do read the Hadley Centre's December 2005 report on Climate Change (download from our Science page) and see whether you think we can really carry on with "Business as Usual".

Thank you.

Dominic Goodwin (Director, Biomotors Ltd.)