Citizens' Climate Lobby UK

Lobbying for a carbon fee and dividend

News

With or without America we will continue striving to preserve a liveable world

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Statement from the CCI newsletter for October 2024

At the end of October, parts of Spain were inundated with more rain in one day than normally falls in several months. Torrents of water pushed cars through the streets of cities, and more than 200 people perished in the floodwaters. A month earlier, similar scenes unfolded in western North Carolina when Hurricane Helene dumped several feet — yes, feet, not inches — of rain in the mountainous terrain. The consequences of climate change are upending and ending lives throughout the globe, and unless the nations of the world take decisive action immediately, these devastating catastrophes will occur with greater and greater frequency. The action needed, of course, is a speedy transition away from fossil fuels that emit the heat-trapping gases that cause the climate crisis.

Following the recent presidential election in America, that transition will prove to be challenging, as leadership from the U.S. is not expected in the next administration.

It will be necessary to find that leadership in other countries, where citizens engage their governments to demand effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Civics International — yes, we have a new name — will continue to empower citizens and provide the tools they need in the fight of our lives to preserve a liveable world.

Citizens’ Climate International, which empowers advocates in 76 countries to engage their governments on climate solutions, is changing its name to Climate Civics International. “We wanted the name to more accurately reflect the importance of civic engagement as the most powerful tool to combat climate change,” said Joe Robertson, executive director of Climate Civics International. “Stakeholders, people whose lives are affected by climate disruption, must be involved in decisions that reduce catastrophic risk and shield communities from the impacts of extreme weather, rising temperatures and rising seas.”

Why carbon pricing realignment with the EU makes sense…

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Last week we reported on the CC EU conference on the implications of the forthcoming EU ETS2 policy, putting forward the benefits of a Climate Income scheme as adopted by Austria. On Friday the Guardian reported how Brexit has put £370m a year on price of power from EU since 2021 when a stand alone UK ETS was established. The article is based on the findings of trade body, Energy UK’s briefing paper...’Energy UK Explains: the cost of the UK-EU relationship for energy’.

Summary of the key points made in the paper:

  • The UK and EU have deeply interconnected energy systems. The UK remains part of a broader European energy system that supports security of supply and the transition to Net Zero.
  • The UK’s post-Brexit energy relationship with the EU introduced significant barriers to trade. If left unaddressed, these barriers will lead to higher energy bills and run the risk of disincentivising investment in clean homegrown energy.
  • Unless the UK moves toward closer cooperation with the EU on energy and climate, it may lead to additional costs of up to £10bn this Parliament through higher energy bills and lower Treasury revenues.
  • This amount is set to increase from 2030 as the UK loses out on the advantages of an integrated energy system, jeopardising our ability to capitalise on clean homegrown energy by becoming a net exporter of electricity.

The paper states that CBAM charges incurred from 2026 to 2030 are estimated at 800 million and if continued the low UK ETS prices will mean foregone revenue of £3.5 billion-£8 billion. The budget confirmed that the UK will be introducing CBAM (a year later than the EU implementation) levying carbon intensive imports from countries without a comparable carbon price from the start of 2027.

The benefit for the UK of realigning with the EU internal energy market and carbon pricing systems is self evident and could lead to a strong case for implementing a national Climate Income in the UK.

Oxfam reports that carbon inequality kills…..

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Reports on the need for policy reform to curb emissions are coming thick and fast. The Lethal Humidity global council of scientists is alerting the world to the fact that the concept of carbon offsetting just doesn’t stack up, quite literally as trees fall down and die, emitting carbon dioxide!

Oxfam’s new briefing paper, ‘Carbon Inequality Kills: Why curbing the excessive emissions of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all’ delineates the contribution of the richest 1% to global warming and the misery of the majority…

The only way to beat climate breakdown and deliver social justice is to radically reduce inequality. This briefing paper reveals the catastrophic climate impacts of the richest individuals in the world, and proposes taking urgent action to protect people and the planet. What little carbon dioxide we can still safely emit is being burned indiscriminately by the super-rich. 

We share new evidence of how the yachts, jets and polluting investments of the 50 richest billionaires are accelerating the climate crisis. Oxfam’s research shows that the emissions of the world’s super-rich 1% are causing economic losses of trillions of dollars; contributing to huge crop losses; and leading to millions of excess deaths.

As global temperatures continue to rise, risking the lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty and precarity, we must act now to curb the emissions of the super-rich and make rich polluters pay. 

Oxfam points out that the carbon emissions don’t only arise from rockets and super yachts but also from the chosen investments of the extremely wealthy. The portfolios of the 50 billionaires in the study were almost twice as polluting as an investment in the main US stock index. Almost 40% of their shareholdings were in emissions-intensive industries such as oil, mining, shipping and cement, companies which use PR and lobbying to maintain the status quo.

Oxfam is calling for fairer taxes on extreme wealth, a call which many of the most wealthy have made themselves.

In addition to this, in and of itself Climate Income, if applied more or less universally and made taxable income, would play a large part in curbing the wealthiest’s carbon emissions by steadily raising the price of fossil fuel rich products and making fossil free products and investments more attractive. 

Another new report mean

 

Golden October!

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Members may wonder what has been happening recently and how we are approaching the new government. We have been involved in informing relevant UK stakeholders about the Citizens’ Climate EU conference on ETS2 implementation, organised by CCL UK member and CC EU Chair, James Collis. The EU has realised that the 2030 emissions reductions target can’t be achieved without ETS2. ETS2 will be introduced in 2027, and will put a price on emissions from buildings and transport, directly affecting consumers for the first time. Countries have the option of introducing a national carbon price such as Austria’s Klimabonus instead.

Currently the proposed UK ETS2 is narrower in scope but this may become an issue for the government, especially when the EU CBAM is implemented in 2026. The conference was watched with interest by members of the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

For an article by James turn to Views – Citizens’ Climate EU event : ‘How to make ETS2 work for your country’, aka Climate Income…

James then had to rush back to blighty where he gave a talk at the Green Liberal Democrats Conference on carbon taxation, not only did this elicit huge interest from key Liberal Democrat policy makers but also from representatives of the UK energy industry.

The Climate and Nature Bill will have its second reading soon – help to ensure it passes this hurdle.

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Zero Hour  is campaigning to get the Climate and Nature Act into law. The bill was first introduced by Caroline Lucas in 2020 and reintroduced by Alex Sobel this year, with a first reading on 15 May 24. It is described as:

A Bill to require the United Kingdom to achieve climate and nature targets; to give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve those targets; to establish a Climate and Nature Assembly to advise the Secretary of State in creating that strategy; to give duties to the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee regarding the strategy and targets; and for connected purposes.

Zero Hour states that if passed the CAN Bill would ensure that the UK:

Creates a joined-up plan—the crises in climate and nature are deeply intertwined, requiring a plan that considers both together

Cuts emissions in line with 1.5°C—ensuring UK emissions are reduced rapidly, for the last chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C.

Not only halts, but also reverses the decline in nature—setting nature measurably on the path to recovery by 2030.

Takes responsibility for our overseas footprint—both emissions and ecological.

Prioritises nature in decision-making, and ends fossil fuel production and imports as rapidly as possible.

Ensures no-one is left behind—through fairness provisions.

Involves the public—giving people a say in finding a fair way forward through a Climate & Nature Assembly, an essential tool for bringing the public along with the unprecedented pace of change required.

CCL UK endorses this commitment and supports the current campaign asking people to contact their MPs to ensure the bill passes its second reading. The website offers a step by step guide to sending an email to your MP, tailored to whether your MP already supports the bill or not. 

 

Please support this action.

 

United Nations Pact for the Future and CCI contribution suggest a radical response to the world’s ills

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On the 22nd September the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Pact for the Future” which, reports Reuters, UN secretary-general António Guterres describes as a landmark agreement that is a “step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism”……

UN News reports that….. ‘The Pact’s five broad focus areas include: sustainable development; international peace and security; science and technology; youth and future generations and transforming global governance.

This has become an urgent pivot, as multilateral financial institutions and even the United Nations itself have come up short seeking solutions to 21st century problems, the pact lays out.

By endorsing the Pact, UN Member States pledged, among other things, to:

  • Turbocharge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change, two landmark 2015 agreements that have seen halting progress and missed milestones
  • Listen to young people and include them in decision-making, at the national and global levels
  • Build stronger partnerships with civil society, the private sector, local and regional authorities and more
  • Redouble efforts to build and sustain peaceful, inclusive and just societies and address the root causes of conflicts
  • Protect all civilians in armed conflict
  • Accelerate the implementation of our commitments on women, peace and

The Associated Press describes the “blueprint” as an attempt by the UN to “bring the world’s increasingly divided nations together to tackle 21st-century challenges from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty”. 

Citizens’ Climate international has produced a new report to coincide with the summit. ……

 As the Summit of the Future adopted a new Pact for the Future, in New York, Citizens’ Climate International released its 2024 Reinventing Prosperity Report — “Beyond the Horizon: Priorities for a Livable Future” — which provides insights from stakeholders around the world on how efforts should be focused to provide a prosperous, equitable and sustainable world for everyone.

Over 18 months, CCI ran a focused consultation on Priorities for a Livable Future and received input from more than 75 contributors in 23 countries. Chapters providing guiding insights from stakeholders and a call for solidarity and good governance were published ahead of the Summit. As the report notes, we did this “because we believe it is essential to bring outside voices into the halls of power and to provide local, values-based insights to intergovernmental meetings like the United Nations Summit of the Future.”

“The overriding insight from the report is the need to rethink how the world defines prosperity,” said Joe Robertson, Executive Director of Citizens’ Climate International. “Given the threat that climate change poses to the well-being of people and the livability of many places on the planet, all policies and investments must consider climate value. In other words, the future depends on whether we really measure what is at stake in our decision-making, whether overarching and everyday decisions will worsen or improve climate-related risk and cost.”

Nine years ago, the 193-nation United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lists 17 Sustainable Development Goals to improve the quality of life for all people and protect the environment, making our planet and our societies safe for future generations. Progress toward achieving these goals is woefully behind schedule, and a major impediment is climate chaos.

In a section of CCI’s report about the Sustainable Development Goals, contributors shared suggestions on how to get the goals back on track. A sampling of insights and actions to prioritise:

  • On SDG1, ending poverty: Design and support new business models that deliver multiple SDG benefits while providing expanded access to new investment, new skills, and better livelihoods.
  • On SDG2, ending hunger: Shift policy, banking, and investment standards, to support a transition to sustainable, climate-resilient production of food that is healthy, affordable, and accessible to all.
  • On SDG5, gender equality: Gender equality improvements can accelerate society-wide progress on all of the Goals, and all of the Goals—and relevant implementation actions, policies, and investments—should have gender equality as a core priority.

Our ability to preserve a livable world for future generations, the focus of the Summit of the Future, hinges on our success or failure to contain global heating to no more than 1.5° Celsius. At COP28 in Dubai last year, 196 nations agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” in order to prevent breaching this dangerous threshold. 

“If we are serious about our commitment to that transition, we must redefine what it means to have a prosperous future,” said Robertson. “Our report indicates there is awareness and support for a coordinated rapid phase out of fossil fuels and for putting climate value at the heart of all development.”

New study on the benefits of a global Basic Income (BI) derived from pricing pollution, aka Climate Income!

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A new study published in Cell Reports Sustainability (7/6/24) on the effects of a universal basic income (BI) is based on analysis of 186 countries and is the largest of its kind to date*. It states that providing a BI could boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by US$ 163 trillion while acting to curb environmental degradation. BI could boost global GDP by about 130 per cent. For every dollar invested, approximately US$4 to $7 of economic impacts could be generated……

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 was a reminder of society’s vulnerability in the face of natural upheavals, leading to widespread unemployment and increased poverty. Simultaneously, human activities have precipitated large-scale environmental degradation and catastrophic climate change. Here, we conduct a global-scale, 186-country analysis examining the potential impact of basic income (BI) as a two-pronged solution to both sustainability and social resilience. We reveal BI’s potential to bolster economies, particularly in times of crisis. To lower the huge barrier imposed by implementation costs, we suggest a diverse array of strategies aimed at financing BI, strategically designed to concurrently alleviate economic insecurity while fostering nature conservation. We suggest that BI implementation is feasible and could be a potent tool in addressing the twin challenges of decreasing worldwide poverty while reducing environmental degradation—a nexus that arguably constitutes the paramount global challenge of our times.

The authors point out that increasing income and financial stability could lead to increased consumption and associated rising greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation generally, unless the basic income were to include putting a price on pollution…..

We posit that BI can be a pivotal instrument in the global pursuit of poverty alleviation and “nature-positive” sustainable development. Crucially, its execution must be designed to yield a dual triumph: assuaging economic insecurity, especially among the world’s low-income populations, while also ensuring intergenerational equity by safeguarding the environment for posterity.

*Previous similar studies were:

 Protecting the poor with a carbon tax and an equal per capita dividend, Nature Climate Change, (Nov 21)

TOLL GATES AND MONEY PUMPS: Why carbon taxation could be a simple, fair and transformative policy instrument., Autonomy, (March 2022).

Our chance to show how Climate Income could help the new Government achieve its net zero targets!

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As everyone will be aware the political landscape suddenly changed overnight on the 4th of July! CCL UK welcomes the new attitude where getting to Net Zero is seen as a real opportunity. (Article updated 18/7/24).

There is a very useful analysis of exactly what the challenges and opportunities are on the Carbon Brief website. Carbon Brief has published a comprehensive study of the ‘Labour government’s in-tray for climate change, energy and nature’ and published a summary of expert opinion on the new Government’s top priorities for meeting UK climate targets. There is also an article about the webinar on the key climate priorities for the new UK government which links to the You Tube webinar recording. The webinar participants emphasised that the UK has historically punched above its weight as an exemplar to the world but now needs to deliver at home.

An article in DeSmog discusses the key players on climate change policy in the new government, which includes Chris Stark, formerly CEO of the Climate Change Committee.

On the 18th July  the Climate Change Committee published the ‘Progress on reducing emissions: 2024 Report to Parliament’ which states that the new Government has to ‘make up lost ground’ to hit UK climate goals…….Our assessment is that only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans. Action is needed across all sectors of the economy, with low-carbon technologies becoming the norm. See also Carbon Brief analysis.

Emma Pinchbeck, the CEO of Energy UK emphasised that the UK has a leading role to play, in part because it has the biggest off shore wind market in the world and phased out coal far faster than was expected but also because of our world leading governance (Climate Change Act 2008). These factors could enable us to show leadership going forward in areas like green finance and carbon pricing……“If you go early, you get the industrial benefits, the jobs, the growth and the industries in the country,  and that’s the reason – apart from the altruism – that we should go faster. There’s loads of reasons the UK could still massively benefit from [decarbonising], even if we’re small and windy and rainy, cynical and tired, there’s still massive amounts of hope for us here. So don’t [let] anyone tell you otherwise.”

CCL UK  believes that Climate Income is the best tool a government can use to price pollution without penalising the populace, indeed incentivising and helping householders and businesses to decarbonise. James Collis, Citizens’ Climate Europe Chair and CCL UK member, recently wrote about how Climate Income could be implemented in the UK, especially now that the relationship with the EU will be less combative.

CCL UK  had been in dialogue with the Labour party for a while although it is fair to say that other pressures intervened recently! Our role now is to show how Climate Income could contribute to rebuilding the economy and household resilience, most likely through ETS reform. Some CCL UK members have also been involved in Liberal Democrat discussions on carbon pricing and as the new third party a Liberal Democrat MP will now have more power to influence the Government; they also support close alignment with the EU ETS.

We will continue to advise members on how to lobby their MP successfully so watch this space, the newsletters and the national meetings (every third Tuesday)!

 

Guterres doesn’t mince his words…..

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On Wednesday UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made his most hard hitting condemnation of the fossil fuel industry ever. Citing the latest European Commission Copernicus Climate Change Service report showing last month was the hottest May in history, the UN chief said global emissions need to fall nine per cent every year just to keep the 1.5℃ temperature rise limit above pre-industrial levels alive.  Last year, they went up by one per cent.*………. “In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger, we are the danger. But, we are also the solution.”…….We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” ……. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell, and the truth is we have control of the wheel.”….

Guterres stated that pulling back from the brink is still just possible but it depends on what is done over the next decade and most critically, the next 18 months. He called for a worldwide ban on fossil fuel advertising….I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones. G20 economies should go furthest and fastest while also providing technical and financial support to developing nations, supporting them with fairer climate finance and an end to the crippling debt and high interest rates**……“We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands……Climate finance is not a favour; it is a fundamental element to a liveable future for all’. 

Finally Guterres had encouraging words for climate activists everywhere…..You are on the right side of history. You speak for the majority. Keep it up; don’t lose courage, don’t lose hope.” It is now “We the Peoples versus the polluters and profiteers” and united together “we can win.”“Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver. This is our moment of truth.”

*The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also reported on Wednesday that there is an 80 per cent chance the 1.5℃ limit – the target established in the Paris Agreement in 2015 – will be passed in one of the next five years.

**The IEA has also reported that the world is falling short of the  COP28 pledge to triple renewable capacity by 2030.

 

The cost of climate change just got an update…..

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A new working paper (i.e. not yet peer reviewed) has been published by The National Bureau of Economic Research (US). Titled “The Macroeconomic Impact of Climate Change: Global vs. Local Temperature”, the paper claims that the macroeconomic damages from climate change have been seriously underestimated and are six times worse than thought. It has been reported on in a recent Guardian article.

The authors explain ….”This paper estimates that the macroeconomic damages from climate change are six times larger than previously thought. We exploit natural variability in global temperature and rely on time-series variation. A 1°C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world GDP. Global temperature shocks correlate much more strongly with extreme climatic events than the country-level temperature shocks commonly used in the panel literature, explaining why our estimate is substantially larger. We use our reduced-form evidence to estimate structural damage functions in a standard neoclassical growth model. Our results imply a Social Cost of Carbon of $1,056 per ton of carbon dioxide. (The US Environmental Protection Agency currently places the social cost of carbon at $190 per ton). A business-as-usual warming scenario leads to a present value welfare loss of 31%. Both are multiple orders of magnitude above previous estimates and imply that unilateral decarbonization policy is cost-effective for large countries such as the United States”. 

All the more reason that we need a policy which truly prices the real cost of pollution or we will soon be living in a world where, in purely hard financial terms, nothing will be insureable, let alone the unquantifiable costs!