By James Rawlings
Climate change is one of the newest human rights issues to come to light and as the climate emergency increase in severity, soon these human rights violations will become even more prominent. Scientists around the world have warned of the effects and urgency of climate change. Therefore governments, including the UK, have had to introduce policies to resolve this crisis and reduce greenhouse gases before it is too late.
Britain was the first nation to act and understand the issues facing the future of the globe and in 2008 signed the first legally binding commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They originally set the bar at an 80% reduction by the year 2050, but in 2019 as the urgency increased, this was amended to full net zero emissions. This sparked a wave of other nations following suit and conferences were set up including COP26, hosted in Glasgow, which made further strides forward.
Britain then made a wide range of policies to not only encourage the increased focus on renewable energy, but also to protect households, particularly poorer families, from the increased burden that energy prices may incur during the shifting period from oil and gas to renewables. The approach to shifting energy production has been that of a two-pronged attack. Carbon Pricing introduced in 2018 introduces a new tax per tonne of carbon produced with the price floor at £18 per tonne. Equally, the government has encouraged the development of renewables, with subsidies to wind farms and grants to research into further improving the efficiency of renewables. These policies have seemed to work out perfectly for the shift away from carbon emissions, with Britain meeting their first and second carbon budgets and likely to meet their third at the end of 2022. In 2020, for the first time in the UK’s history, renewables produced more electric than fossil fuels with a 42% against 41% total.
Furthermore, the Energy Company Obligation started in 2013 set about to improving the energy efficiency of domestic households, especially in disadvantaged areas and vulnerable families. This included improving insulation in these houses and a rollout of improving smart meters across the country which reduced the amount of increased costs that were passed onto consumers. This not only reduced total carbon emissions with less energy use, but also helped reduce burdens on those close to or below the poverty line, proving a massive step forward in reducing inequality.
All this positive forward progress seemed to put Britain in a great place to become one of, if not the first nation to achieve net carbon neutrality and to finally be able to combat climate change. However, in recent times the UKs polices towards the climate have seemed to reverse and it has taken a back seat to many other areas of the country. The energy crisis sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war has seemed to be the catalyst to these backward-looking changes. Liz Truss has opted to drive energy prices down by increasing the production of oil, gas and even fracking which was previously banned in Britain. Fracking releases methane, one of the most damaging greenhouse gases, in high quantities as well as opening underground deposits of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. The chair of the Committee on Climate Change criticised this move, claiming that renewables would actually be both cheaper and quicker to deploy with immediate effect to balance energy issues.
Truss also vowed in her campaign to remove green energy levies in order to reduce the burden on taxpayers. However, this levy was used to improve household energy efficiency and fund research into new technology for renewables. Scrapping this levy would prove disastrous for the future of green energy and put Britain on the back foot for many years. This policy change also affects the poorer households that required energy efficiency upgrades, thus increasing fuel poverty in the UK and targeting minorities living in more deprived areas that will inevitably suffer the most from the devastating impacts of climate change.
Climate change is an issue that will hurt everyone and the impacts of it are clearly a violation of everyday human rights. Even more so, they are hurting those in poorer countries who are already experiencing droughts, floods, or famines due to the actions being taken at this moment. Even in richer economies climate inequality is becoming apparent with ethnic minorities and those in poverty taking most of the effects, from air pollution to increased energy costs. It is imperative that governments around the world take every action necessary to stop climate change before it is too late - as time is quickly running out.