Session 6: Responses to Climate Change
10th Global Conference
Friday 8th July 2011 – Sunday 10th July 2011
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom
British Climate Change Act 2008 as a legislative Stimulus towards more sustainable economies in EU member states – legal challenges and opportunities
Kristina Sabova
Environmental Law Service, Brno, Czech Republic
In 2008 the UK as a first EU country passed legislation which introduced binding framework to tackle the GHG emission reduction on a national level. Environmental Law Service as an NGO working with various campaigner´s groups and providing legal support uses the British Climate Change Act 2008 as a model framework how to proceed in preparatory legislative work on a national level. So far, the campaigns have had mixed success. Nevertheless, in several EU member states an UK CCA act–like laws have already been adopted or are seriously discussed. If this model is feasibly and effectively extended the national Climate Change Acts (“CCA”) may become a main driving force in the area of GHG emission reductions within the EU realm, by far exceeding the current EU climate change policies targets. However, on the way to this goal, there are number of challenges and questions that are important to explore in relation to adoption the UK CCA model. Some of the most important ones are purely legal – such as creation of an operational framework for national Climate Change laws.
This article presents the structure of provisions of a potential CCA and explores the challenges that could occur in the legislative process and will like be faced during preparation either by campaigners or legislators. We will discuss various examples of national efforts to adopt CCA in the EU countries and compare the Czech proposal for Climate Change Act with the British legislation. Mainly the questions of control, enforceability and public participation in the whole process will be considered.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
Think Locally and act globally: changing the climate change from local authorities
Susana Borras Pentinat
Centre of Environmental Law Studies of the Rovira i Virgili University, Faculty of Law, Spain
When talking about climate change impacts, local governments are on the front line, facing environmental, social and economic consequences that directly affect their citizens, particularly in urban areas. However, cities are the main contributors to change the climate. Therefore, cities have assumed responsibilities to promote solutions to face with climate change, being also contributors for changing the climate change. Responsibilities and solutions are two faces of a same coin.
The purpose of this article is to show some of the initiatives carried out by local authorities to reduce the risks of climate change and to demonstrate how local efforts can contribute significantly to the international strategies to face with the climate change and how local ideas go further to those developed by States at international or national level. Responsibilities are shared, but the compromises assumed by local authorities are higher than the political willing of their own States. Many lessons learned from local initiatives should be taken into account to deal with climate change from the international negotiations.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
Climate Change and Fuel Poverty: Local Government Responses in Scotland
William Lynch
University of Dundee, Scotland
Whilst the rest of the world prevaricates over a collective response post-Kyoto, the Scottish Government has pinned its colours to the mast through setting extremely tough reduction targets for the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 has set an interim 42% reduction target for 2020 to be followed by an 80% reduction target by 2050. Part 4 of the Act places duties on public bodies with the intention being that they strongly assist with the achievement of these target reductions. Local authorities in Scotland have already begun to take action. All 32 Scottish councils are signatories to a Climate Change Declaration and since 2008 they have been required to prepare Climate Change Plans.
Tackling fuel poverty is an integral part of this political agenda. A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend 10% or more of its income on household fuel use in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. The figures in Scotland for households in fuel poverty have increased in recent years such that 33% of households were deemed to be in fuel poverty in 2009 compared to 13% in 2002. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Strategy has set a target that by November 2016, so far as is reasonably practicable, no households should be experiencing fuel poverty.
In order to square the circle, climate change plans and policies should include a fuel poverty component in order to ensure that energy inequalities are addressed at the same time as carbon reduction measures. This paper examines local authority responses to fuel poverty generally but within climate-change planning in particular to illuminate the potential for future improvements to assist the achievement of the 2016 target.
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