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Fair shares
Dear CAT I was especially taken with 'Counting carbon' by Martin Burgess (CS111), because it encapsulated ideas which I had over 30 years ago, when I suggested that a form of rationing of fossil fuels was a means of fairly sharing what oil remained after 'peak oil'. Now it's much more urgent, in view of global warming, to reduce burning of fossil fuels to zero, but the way to do it must include some sort of rationing like the points system Martin refers to. Rod Sykes
Focus on fossil fuel subsidies
Ed: The article from Prof Mike Berners-Lee was an edited extract from his new book ‘There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years’. The book covers a wide range of issues in a succinct and accessible way, and covers both the need to scrap fossil fuel subsidies and an examination of the criticisms of the Jevons Paradox. Unfortunately we did not have space to include these in the article. The book is available from the CAT Ecostore for anyone who would like to read more - www.cat.org. uk/shop 01654 705959. Fossil fuel subsidies were addressed in the article by Andrew Simms and Peter Newell in CS113, which highlighted a breathtaking $10m per minute given by the world’s governments in fossil fuel subsidies.
Labelling impacts Dear CAT Neil Kermode writes in Clean Slate 113 about the impact of shopping. It wouldn’t be difficult for stores to provide impact details on till receipts, which people could then total should they wish. Even better would be impact information on the shelves as well, so that choices could be informed. I see the problem is working out what the impact of most goods is in the first place - the
debates over disposable nappies and painted wooden window frames are good examples. But just because it’s difficult isn’t a reason for not trying. John Heathcote
Share your thoughts
We’d love to hear your thoughts on CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain research or anything else that has got you thinking in this issue of Clean Slate. If you’d like your views published in Clean Slate just mark the message ‘For publication’. We may edit letters for clarity or for reasons of space. Email us at members@cat.org.uk Call us on 01654 705988
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Dynamoland
Dear CAT Further to the correspondence in Clean Slate 113 on Mike Berners-Lee’s article in CS112, he makes no mention of fossil fuel subsidies (variously estimated at £305bn to £4tn a year). Surely this is the place to start, and you put it at the top of your Emergency Climate Action Plan. Even the threat of phasing out these subsidies, which take the form of tax credits, production subsidies and support for oil and gas exploration, would discourage investment in fossil fuel industries. Transferring just some of these subsidies to renewables would have a massive impact on their development and implementation. The Jevons Paradox, or ‘rebound effect’ of energy efficiency measures does not appear to be well-supported by evidence. In fact, measures that actively involve the user such as domestic solar, smart meters and electric
vehicles probably have the opposite effect, encouraging further efficiency because the results can be seen immediately. Nick Ward
It's time for governments around the world to stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry. Image shows a brown coal mine in the Czech Republic.
12 Clean Slate