Tackling pollution and environmental damage is an important priority, yet there still is no credible (realistically achievable) or sufficient plan from any other party for a way forward. Most of the focus has been on vague notions of increasing clean technology and national reforestation targets asap. Given this is a global issue, UK action alone this is insufficient. Far more action is needed for a credible and sustainable strategy. We need to focus on:
- Reforestation (and afforestation).
- Investing in recycling infrastrure.
- Moving to a clean fuel economy.
- Improved building standards and planning
There is also ignorance about the impact of leaving the EU and the impact this will have on environmental standards. Leaving the EU will give the UK the ability to be better on environmental standards
1. Reforestation (and afforestation)
An important solution is for protection, recovery and development of the Earth’s natural ecology, including through reforestation (planting millions of trees in the UK to capture carbon and promoting a global initiative, for example through the United Nations or another international body, to plant billions more trees worldwide), encouraging peatlands, sustainable management of land and other natural solutions.
This is a key component in a global plan to tackle environmental damage, including recovery of degraded land, an effective and natural way of ensuring carbon and particulate capture. There are many studies on this topic, but it is accepted that reforestation globally could be at least as effective as, if not more so than, clean technology at at mitigating environmental damage to the planet as. However, plans must be sustainable including taking account of other risks such as forest fires.
Other benefits include increasing biodiversity and reversing habitat loss through human activity over the last century.
The Brexit Party fully supports this policy approach and has pushed the discussion which other Parties are now picking up prior to the election. We also need to work with our global partners to ensure an ambitious reforestation programme takes place globally to emulate successes that have been seen on a smaller scale.
The good news is we are making progress. According to a 2017 Article by the Fast Company, since 2003 there has been a net increase in global tree coverage despite millions of acres of rainforest disappearing. However, more needs to be done in the UK and abroad.
2. Investing in Recycling Infrastucture
Developed countries overall including the UK must do more to effectively recycle. Too much UK waste, including recyclable waste, still ends up in landfill, in our oceans all over the world or exported to other countries, particularly in Asia, where the waste is not sustainably managed but is burnt, buried or dumped at sea. This has led to adverse consequences including plastic particles being part of a pescetarian diet as a result of plastic contamination our waters globally.
As we cope with population increase the UK needs to address its recycling capacity by investing more in recycling infrastructure across the country, which is woefully inadquate.
3. Moving to a clean fuel economy, electric vehicles (EVs) and airlines
This is another essential part of the environmental solution but it is not a quick fix or sufficient alone. For example, the UK’s national fleet of cars and vans stands at 35.5 million, but only 2.6 million new EVs are sold per year. By contrast, there are no fewer than 8 million sales of used petrol-based cars each year. These basic numbers show that take-up of electric cars will take at least two decades to complete. So let’s create a whole new industry, and not resort to gesture politics. The only way to speed market penetration of EVs will be to cut the cost of powering, making and running them – dramatically.
a. Policy framework
Develop supply- and demand-side policies to boost EVs – policies designed not only to reduce CO2, particulates and other emissions, but also to make EVs affordable for ordinary people
A focus on the electrification of commuter and freight vehicles – buses, lorries, coaches, vans, taxis – would do much for emissions, but would also help raise the UK’s faltering productivity growth, as well as reduce levels of road noise.
Brexit will facilitate trade deals around EVs with key players in North America and China. In the move to electric buses, such an approach might have avoided the collapse of Wrightbus in Northern Ireland.
We should back electric bikes and their riders, but insist that the interests of pedestrians and road users are also protected.
All of the above needs to be supported by a wider, intelligent and deliverable energy and transport strategy – one that achieves goals around sustainability and tackling pollution, but also makes energy and transport cheap, quick and reliable for millions, not just the wealthy.
b. Context
- Steady declines in UK car manufacturing over decades as production operations (labour and capital) move outside the UK to lower cost locations (related to globalisation and falls in consumer demand, not Brexit).
- At the same time, the British car industry has become foreign owned, and rather successful.
- Global consumer demand is, nevertheless, now slowing due to:
- customers waiting for improvements in hybrid and electric technology;
- distrust following misrepresentations by car manufacturers on emissions performance standards (Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat and Volvo among others emitted far more NOx in more rigorous tests); and
- modest shifts in city driving behaviour to other forms of transport, more pronounced among younger city-dwellers.
- Factory automation, a focus on more profitable models and the car industry’s shift toward EVs are likely to cut jobs in it globally, and, in the UK, to hit jobs at Ford, JLR, Honda and Nissan. These changes cannot be laid at the door of Brexit
- Over decades, the trade unions have failed to protect car workers against cuts in jobs.
In the short term, freedom from the EU could mean more freedom for the state to amend its laws and taxes to favour EVs
- In the longer-term, freedom from the EU could mean more freedom for the state to back EVs through R&D breakthroughs in battery, charging and EV production technology – including the UK can, as well as encourage advent of new technology to make EV manufacturing in the UK more attractive and competitive.
- The UK’s national fleet of cars and vans stands at 35.5 million, but only 2.6 million new such vehicles are sold per year. By contrast, there are no fewer than 8 million sales of used petrol-based cars each year.
- basic numbers show that take-up of electric cars will take at least two decades to complete. So let’s create a whole new industry, not resort to gesture politics. The only way to speed market penetration of EVs will be to cut the cost of powering, making and running them – dramatically.
c. Supply side investment
i. R&D in Batteries and related global trade
- Encourage and support research in new battery R&D in the UK. Innovations in the UK could be exported to/adopted in other parts of the world.
- HMG’s Faraday battery challenge is welcome, but not enough to allow the UK to be a leading global player in this industry.
- Key competitive economies attracting battery production are China, USA (e.g. Tesla), Korea and Poland.
- After Brexit, the UK has an opportunity to work in partnership with global experts in battery technology.
ii. Other measures
- Support/encouragement for new skills in EV production.
- Encourage and support research in under-road charging (i.e. direct charging of EVs by road).
- Measures to enable electricians to undertake vocational training in the installation and maintenance of EV charge points, particularly in rural areas.
- Encourage EV manufacturers to allow the servicing of EVs, and the development of a second-hand electric car market, through authorised independent garages. Tax breaks may help here.
- Support/encourage vocational training for new and existing independent mechanics to include EV vehicles – only three per cent of mechanics are trained in EVs at present.
- Support/encourage UK education in STEM to orientate to the EV industry and relevant technological advance, including driverless technology.
- Consider whether vehicle manufacturers which want to sell to consumers in the UK should be required to be materially present and invested in the UK, or otherwise endure tariffs.
d. Demand side solutions
- Accelerate investment in fast charge points (and ensure they are maintained)
- Continually review subsidies for the purchase of electric cars (the “plug in grant” is currently at £3.5k, reduced from £5k, is due to be phased out at an unspecified date in future), as well as the provision of very low/no-interest finance.
- Encourage the insurance industry to provide favourable treatment to EVs of all descriptions
The above policies are orientated to UK motorists, but also to UK investment, jobs, skills, research and trade deals – including the export of UK EV innovations. Especially with the emphasis on commuter and freight vehicles, the policies are orientated to UK plc.
e. The aviation industry
One of the bigger challenges we have is the air travel industry. We can improve the energy efficiency of airports and infrastructure. However, stopping air travel is not a viable solution; instead the focus must be on encouraging airlines to continue to develop cleaner air travel technology and completely offsetting the airline industry’s carbon footprint with solutions such as effective reforestation efforts.
4. Building standards and planning
We need to have an intelligent and achievable strategy on building standards and planning to take into account the environment.
a. Building standards
We need to primarily focus on improving building standards for new homes and flats as well as focus on reforestation and energy supply goals.
We should also encourage retrofitting of homes to make them more energy efficient. However, we need honesty in this debate as the promises being made on homes are not realistic or achievable and show complete ignorance on the matter. They ignore the fact that most people cannot afford the costs involved. The Government would have only have the financial ability to subsidise to a point.
I having been personally working to produce a highly energy efficient home. It is very expensive and time consuming, and I have done most of the work myself taking into account building standards and sustainability. Using skilled labour for installation would add significant costs. For example, shopping very carefully for insulation, it has cost me £15,000 (materials only) to fully insulate my 1930s home and a lot of time and planning (taking into account how plumbing and electrical supplies/route will work with an energy efficient home). Most people do not have the sufficient skills to install insulation so would have to pay for installation by skilled people, which at least double the cost of installation installation. Energy efficient windows would add at least another £20,000 to the bill. So at a bare minimum, retro-fitting a home to be more energy efficient would cost at least £50,000 and probably much more, money which is an instant barrier for most ordinary people.
b. Planning
We need to improve our planning strategy and take into account the UK environment. For example, our floods reveal our fragmented approach to planning needs review. We also need to look at mitigating damage from the environment, for example,boosting flood defences. Previous Governments have failed in this area for decades, having promised to tackle this area but have failed to execute those promises. We need much better leadership.
5. The role of the EU on the environment
It is a complete myth to suggest leaving the EU will result in lower environmental standards. The EU’s role is to make laws. The UK has the ability to legislate for much better environmental standards and given the consensus that more has to be done, this is very likely.
The UK will need to review EU-based environmental and trade standards and review whether they are appropriate for the UK environment. There are arguments for and against whether: EU trade measures (which do not sufficiently take into account local environmental issues) such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy; and environmental measures such as the EU Water Framework Directive, which has not protected the UK from flood damage, and the EU Emission Trading Scheme, which has failed to meaningfully reduce the EU’s industrial carbon footprint (and has actually allowed major companies to make large profits).
Regardless, of the argumentsfor or against (and I strongly believe EU standards woefully insufficient and out of date), we and the UK Government need to review and tailor all relevant legislation and work with UK industries to improve both the quality and standard of industrial production alongside reforestation targets.