Environment Speech to NLGN

November 23, 2006

Thank you.

In August 2003, a million people in Britain thought that the environment was one of the most important issues facing the country.

In August last year, it was two million people.

In August this year, it was six million.

Next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was even more, because 2006 has been the year in which the environment, and in particular climate change, finally took centre stage in our national politics and public life.

There is no longer a debate about the science. The sceptics have been silenced.

And as Nick Stern – the unlikely rock star of climate change – travels around the world presenting his findings, the once contentious idea that climate change is the challenge of our generation is rapidly becoming a global consensus.

The facts are stark.

We can act now. Or we can face disastrous consequences.

Consequences that would have a huge economic impact.

Bigger than two world wars and the great depression combined. Consequences that would devastate humanity in the developing world.

Left unchecked, we know for certain that climate change will kill millions upon millions of people.

Many of whom have yet to be born.

It’s that simple.

The Stern Review made this clear.

But more importantly, the Stern Review showed that the world has the capacity to prevent disastrous climate change. It is not a question of ability. It is a question of commitment.

And this is why the Stern Review is so important. Because it’s changed the debate from being about resignation or panic to being about practical action.

For too long we have allowed the language of inevitability and impossibility to dominate environmental politics.

The new politics of the environment, a politics for the future, must be a practical politics. One that gets things done. On a global level, on a national level, on a local level and on a personal level.

This is an enormous challenge for all of us. And it is an enormous challenge for Labour.

But I am optimistic about our capacity to tackle climate change.

Because over the last decade, Britain has proved the sceptics wrong on so many other issues.

Ten years ago, some people said that in a modern economy, the gap between rich and poor gets bigger. That that’s just the way of the world.

Well, inequality is now falling in modern Britain. In just ten years, Labour has proved that rising inequality isn’t inevitable; that rising poverty, mass unemployment, a boom and bust economy, rising crime aren’t inevitable.

And now, we can prove that disastrous climate change isn’t inevitable. How?

By, as we have done in the past, sticking to our beliefs, by looking ahead and by believing that it can be done.

In 1997, we had the policies and the ideas that were right for the times. Right for the challenges facing the country: an economy recovering from two recessions, crumbling schools, out of control crime, the highest child poverty in Europe, public services suffering from chronic underinvestment.

In 2007, we need a new approach.

Not because we have failed, or because we have been doing the wrong thing. But because Britain and the world are changing. And as this happens, so the problems change, the opportunities change and our response must change.

People say that renewal is hard in government. In some ways this is right.

I think that one of the most difficult things about being in government is that you can think that problems are predominantly global or national, rather than local and personal.

Because when you are used to the big picture you can sometimes lose sight of what change means to people in their daily lives.

Of course we need strong national and global political action.

But we also need to remember that people don’t experience change – such as higher immigration or antisocial behaviour or terrorism or the shift to a service economy – at a global or national level. They experience it at a local level. In their communities. In their homes. In their everyday lives.

And I think that the challenge that climate change and the growing importance of the environment present to us are perfect examples of this. We need national and global answers. But we also need local and personal ones.

And for that we need a new kind of politics.

Environment, and particularly climate change, are profoundly progressive issues.

Climate change is fundamentally about global justice.

And because although it affects us all, it will impact most on those who depend on their environment to live. The world’s poorest people. The very people who have contributed least to the problem.

The map behind me shows the pattern of CO2 emissions in 1998.

[New slide behind]

And this second map shows estimated deaths from climate change in 2000. Six years ago. When people were still arguing about the science.

That year, climate change killed thousands.

There could be no better illustration of global injustice, because past emissions are a mirror image of future impact.

[New slide]

Just compare the two.

So even if the economic case alone was not enough, global justice should compel us to act now to tackle climate change. Because our common humanity demands it.

Now, we all know that doing something will require a global solution. And it will only work if it treats all countries fairly.

We cannot simply say to developing countries: sorry, climate change is too dangerous. You can’t develop. You can’t emit any more CO2.

They wouldn’t listen to us. And they shouldn’t: because poor people deserve a chance to improve their lives and this means economic development.

And if Labour doesn’t make this case, who will?

If we don’t argue the cause of the world’s poorest people and the world’s poorest countries, then who will?

And knowing that it is right to take the tough decisions, the decisions that will really make a difference in reducing climate change, depends above all on principled politics and progressive values.

In our development White Paper earlier this year, I set out how we will help developing countries adapt.

We will continue to lead the world in the fight for global justice on climate change, building on our experience as the first country ever to make climate change a priority in a G8 Presidency.

We will work on behalf of the world’s poorest countries internationally to help them get a fair deal.

We will help governments in developing countries build their capacity to respond to climate change. And we will help communities in the developing world to adapt.

It’s not a case of just throwing money at the problem. We need better understanding too about what works, because we are at the beginning of tackling climate change. And so we are now funding research across the world into exactly how this will affect different countries and what poor people can do to adapt.

In Kenya, for example, we are looking at how climate change will impact on agriculture: whether poor farmers will need to grow different crops and use different farming methods in the future. And how we can help them to do so.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Margaret Beckett and David Miliband have over the last few weeks set out how we will lead the world in efforts to mitigate climate change.

We will press for a new European-wide emissions reduction target of 30 per cent by 2020 and then at least 60 per cent by 2050. We will argue with all our power and influence for it to extend beyond Europe to across the world.

We will fight to guarantee that beyond 2012 we have the means – such as the clean development mechanism – to enable not only financial flows but technology transfer to the world’s poorest countries.

And we will press the World Bank and the regional development banks and the richest countries in the world to finance low carbon energy too.

In the Queen’s speech we set out our commitment to legislation that will have a real impact on British carbon emissions. That will put our long-term goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 into legislation, with appropriate interim targets – not unworkable and impractical annual targets. And we’ll create enabling powers that help us meet this target.

We have put the environment at the heart of Labour politics with tough measures and policies that will make a real difference.

It is no coincidence that we are the only G7 country to have already met our Kyoto target on greenhouse gasses. By 2010 we will have met it almost twice over – cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 per cent. And it is local action that will help us to do it.

Woking council, for example, has created a private electricity supply network, established an energy services company, used micro-generation methods – such as solar panels, small wind turbines, and a static fuel cell – and got serious about energy efficiency.

It has cut energy use in half and C02 emissions by 77 per cent since 1990. Energy prices for local people have fallen every year since 1991 and the council has released £4.7 million in energy savings in the past decade.

Tackling carbon emissions and fuel poverty at the same time.

Or Nottinghamshire County Council which has established a £1 million ‘invest to save’ fund for energy efficiency schemes in its own buildings.

Well, if they can do it, so can the rest of us.

We need other councils and local leaders all over Britain to follow. To be innovative. To show political leadership. To be environmental campaigners.

But this will not be enough. Because government – national or local – cannot do it alone. So I want also to talk about what we need the British people to do. In their communities. In their daily lives.

As we saw at Nairobi last week, without political will, global action on climate change simply will not happen.

If we are going to stop climate change, world leaders will have to make tough decisions. And they will only do this if they really believe that the public is behind them. In the US, in China, in India, in Brazil, in South Africa.

And this will depend in part on public action and public pressure here. It will depend on every single person in Britain.

And we can lead the world. We can show that tackling climate change is not only possible, it is beneficial.

So today I am calling for all those who supported Make Poverty History, all those who campaigned for change for the world’s poor, to also get behind efforts to stop climate change – efforts like the Stop Climate Chaos campaign.

It is when people join together that change happens. And Make Poverty History changed the world. Because it gave politicians the will and the mandate to act.

We now need the largest, most sustained, most active public campaign that Britain has ever seen. We need people to be political in pressing for change.

Contrary to appearances, political power isn’t something only politicians have. It’s something people lend to politicians. And the more politicians share power with people, the more power we all have to get things done.

Some say that people in Britain are turning away from politics. It is true that fewer people now vote in elections. That the RSPB has more members than all of the political parties in the UK combined. But it’s not that simple. What is really going on is that the way people want to participate in politics is changing.

People want a more direct say. They want more power. And we know that when people feel that they can really make a difference, they are more involved than ever.

Make Poverty History was a success because people saw that by joining in, by campaigning for change, they could change things. And so they joined in, in their millions.

And they changed not just aid and debt but the way we live. Millions of people now buy Fair Trade products – a market that grew by 40 per cent last year alone. Just one example of political involvement in modern Britain, where people want to be more directly involved.

I think this has profound implications for our society. We will change the way we do politics and the way we organise our political system.

[Pause]

Because as well as using political pressure to tackle climate change, it’s about us changing the way we live in really fundamental ways. It’s about putting politics at the heart of everything we do.

Not an old kind of politics, limited to voting. A new kind of politics, that informs how we live. A politics that says: I am going to change. I might start small. I might just start recycling if I didn’t before. Or I might just take the bus to work one day a week instead of driving. But I will make a difference. And who knows, it might even improve my quality of life. My neighbourhood might be cleaner, I might feel differently about my community.

Britain needs a new generation of environmental and political pioneers. Who see a chance to make a difference as their responsibility, and who take it. Because the best way to persuade the world that we mean it about climate change, is to show them that we mean it.

Question: how do we do this?

Campaigning in traditional ways of course. Marches and petitions. Speeches.

But also campaigning in new ways. By making small changes to our lives. And encouraging others to do the same.

Government – at a national and local level – has a role to play.

By providing people with the information they need to make a difference. Like the Energy Saving Trust, which will give you a free, impartial report telling you how you can cut up to £250 a year on your household energy bills while tackling climate change.

By helping in practical ways. Making it easier for people to recycle, to get to work by public transport, to insulate their homes. Getting the right incentives in place.

But in the end it’s up to us. To all of us.

So I’m trying to do my bit too. The Department for International Development now offsets all my business travel – and I do rather a lot of it! I have changed my ministerial car for a duel-fuel Toyota Prius.

But I want to make a difference personally too. As a human being, not just as a Minister.

So I recently took a screwdriver and turned down the thermostat on the hot water heater at home by 2 degrees. We recycle. I travel to and from my constituency by train. And last night my son brought home some “Hippos” which he’s going to put in the cisterns. They reduce the amount of water you use when flushing. Less water pumped around means more energy saved.

It’s a very modest start. I need to do more. We all do.

Not everyone has the money to make big changes. Condensing boilers are more expensive.

That’s why we have taken steps to help people green their homes, especially those who otherwise couldn’t afford to. Through the Warm Front programme, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, draught proofing and low energy light bulbs are now free to many low income households. And through the Energy Efficiency Commitment we now subsidise energy providers to make green improvements to people’s homes.

But even if we can’t afford to make these changes, we can all do our bit in other ways.

Remembering only to boil as much water as you need. Changing three light bulbs. Not leaving the TV on standby.

Sometimes we might forget. But we can try.

In fact, what I’d really like is something I could put on the mantelpiece that showed how much energy we had used in a week. And whether it was more or less than the week before. Whether the changes we had made were making a difference.

I think that’s what we all need: to be able to see that the little things we do are together having a bigger impact. Because this would help us think differently about energy.

We are all used to living within our financial means. But we need to start seeing energy and carbon in the same way as money. Living within our energy means. Trying to avoid going overdrawn at the energy bank.

Because each of us doing our bit is what will matter. If each of us doesn’t do what we can, how can we ask other people to? If we’re not serious about tackling climate change, how can we expect other people to be?

I believe that the gap between politics and people has to close. It’s not about gestures. It’s about listening to people and showing you really mean what you say.

In some ways, this new politics is actually rooted in a much older politics.

Because we can see that the people who made the biggest difference in shaping the world we live in today were the ones who backed up their words with action.

Go back 200 years to a time of great change in Britain. The great movement from the land to the towns and cities as the industrial revolution created technologies that changed the world. Times were hard in the slums and the mills, and it was the great social reformers – who went to the mills and the factories and the villages – and helped change things.

The Trade Unionists who struggle to improve working conditions.

Elizabeth Fry who fought to improve conditions in prisons, particularly for women and children; who helped set up “District Visitors” associations – people who volunteered to visit and help poor families.

Or the “Ragged Schools Union” – teaching destitute children to read and write; paving the way so that every child in Britain could go to school.

Or the Quakers, who worked closely with William Wilberforce and other politicians to abolish the slave trade almost 200 years ago.

Or the pioneer local governments who built pipes and sewers which did so much to improve life expectancy.

These pioneers – by their own actions – helped to change the world they lived in.

We too can do the same.

And there are millions of people who are depending on us to lead the way.

Thank you.


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