Research published to mark the start of the Climate Awards this week suggests that 1 out of every 5 Britons are not interested in climate change, as they believe others ‘are not doing their bit.’

This prompted Lord Anthony Giddens, a climate change campaigner, to speak out and suggest that we need to influence each other to change behaviour, and lead by example.

While the benefits of influencing by doing cannot be denied, I would suggest that the figures do not make such uncomfortable reading. The fact is that although proof of our changing climate has been well-documented, and extreme weather conditions observed, there are still outspoken deniers who suggest that the science is littered with fraud, and incidents of floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have always been with us.

Changing behaviour is always difficult, especially when so many have been enjoying the relative comfort of our cheap fuel and consumer society, where driving, heating, lighting, holidays abroad and exotic foods have been the norm rather than a luxury. To have 4 out of 5 people willing to take action to reduce these luxuries to combat something which is, it can be argued, easy to ignore if need be, seems to me a remarkable achievement and should be promoted as a blow to the deniers.

Climate change campaigners should be cheered by the news. People are sitting up and taking notice. Lord Giddens is right to promote the ‘influence of influence’, but it seems like the ball is rolling and quite soon it will be the voice of the public that will drown out the deniers – we will all be a campaigner.

Anthony

On 30th November, Phlorum attended Manchester: A Certain Future Conference, where delegates joined together to help develop the city’s action plan on climate change.

Overcoming the snow, members of our team took this opportunity to hear more about Manchesters’ progressive planning policies; as well as visiting clients who wished to learn more about our innovative, Life-Cycle Carbon Footprinting Tool.

The conference was interesting. It was organised by the Stakeholder Steering Group, and was attended by a plethora of organisations, including members of the council, representatives from the football teams, construction companies, SMEs, multi-nationals, landlords and interested citizens. Hosted at the Museum of Science and Industry, the conference aimed to mix past accomplishments with potential future ones. The workshops encouraged everyone to get involved and share their views, whilst strategically placed information boards reminded us all of actions Manchester had already put in place.

The day ended with an inspiring speech from Mr Pekka Sauri, the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki who outlined the actions they had taken to reduce carbon emissions and enhance the environment in their city. Using a combined heat and power (CHP) district heating system, the city was able to reduce its carbon emissions by 40%. The system also works to provide cooling in the summer.

Manchester aims to become Britain’s greenest city, a charge which all attendees seemed to believe possible. Enthusiasm is obviously not in short supply – now the city needs to turn this into collaborative, forward thinking, and importantly, direct action. Phlorum actively support this and suggest attacking the carbon intensive sources first, combining the improvement and increase of public transport with a refurbishment program for the most inefficient building stock. The action starts… now!

David Miliband meets Phlorum

An exciting day for us today at Phlorum’s southern office.

David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, popped by. He was here to meet with Elektromotive, a brilliant company that’s doing wonderful things with electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

However, we managed to spend some time with him to discuss our life cycle carbon assessment tool that’s currently being showcased at Ecobuild. David Miliband was impressed, which gives us greater confidence that the life cycle carbon assessment tool will be of use to those currently carrying out SAP, BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes assessments. Maybe he’ll even mention it to his brother, Ed, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which would be nice!

Hopenhagen - Climate Change Deal at Copenhagen 2009?

It seems like everyone in the world wants an equitable, effective climate deal to be agreed in Copenhagen over the next fortnight. Why then, with such unequivocal support, does it seem so unlikely?

The answer is simple. Leaders want to be seen to be ‘doing the right thing’ but in reality do not want to commit vast amounts of funds to the cause before anyone else does. Everyone is fighting their own battle and pointing fingers at their ‘opponents’. When world leaders can see a tangible gain for their nation, they are best friends; when the benefits of action are more subtle, they resort to lip-service and dawdling in the hope that others will pick up the tab before they are made to.

A further reason is that our leaders are worried about the implications their actions may have on their other responsibilities. They worry that the money they dedicate to alleviating the risk of climate change may have adverse financial impacts on the health and emergency services, the educational and civil engineering sector for example. Of course, whatever funds our leaders promise, they will have to be found from our own pockets. However, our Government fails to see its inefficiencies, and ways in which money can be found. For a start, the £60million that gets paid out in pension funds and benefits to the deceased every year, resulting from administrative errors. Cutting governmental costs must be of benefit to Gordon Brown; he is the 324th most highly paid person in the public sector.

Thirdly, and this has emerged today in the so-called ‘Danish Text’, rich countries (traditionally at fault for unmitigated levels of emissions) are unwilling to help poor countries reduce their emissions, who they believe should have a smaller emissions quota per capita anyway. The cost of averting climate change has been put between £100billion and £400billion a year, the majority of which would be expected to be covered by rich countries uneasy at the thought of subsidising their poorer (and less culpable) cousins.

But we mustn’t give up hope. With 12 billion eyes fixed upon Copenhagen this week and six billion mouths pleading for a deal, surely we can’t be ignored for too much longer? Hopenhagen indeed…

Anthony.

A record amount of rain fell in the North of England last week; almost a winter month’s worth in one day in some places, resulting in widespread flooding in the region. It has been described as a 1 in 100 or 150 year flood event, even a 1 in 1000 year flood event, but hang on… did this not occur in 2000 (the wettest year on record), 2002, and 2003, and 2004, 2005 and 2007? If this kind of rainfall and flooding was a 1 in 150 year flood event, shouldn’t these floods occur over 1,000 years? But instead they occur within one decade, all in our tiny corner of the earth. Climate change is not just making the world warmer, but parts of it also drier and wetter. Therefore, phrases such as global wetting and global drying can be added to global warming in the climate change dictionary.

But the UK is not the only country experiencing extreme rainfall, winds and flooding. Remember Hurricane Katrina? And the Elbe flood in the Czech Republic in 2002, and flooding in Dresden in the same year (when water levels peaked at a record 9.4m)? Also, the Danube flooding in 2006? Extreme weather conditions have increased rapidly since the 1970s, although the effects of these have been exacerbated by overpopulation and urbanisation.

Sadly, as is often the case, those with the least means of protecting themselves are often the worst hit. More than a fifth of Bangladesh could be underwater by 2050 if current sea-level rises continue.

The developed world got us into this mess and it is up to the developed world to get us out. Let’s hope that something radical happens in Copenhagen next month, where the world’s leaders will meet to thrash out an agreement on climate change. I wouldn’t hold your breath… although you might have to once the floods come again!

Anthony