RECENT NEWS

Decade to avert global disaster, climate taskforce claims

The world has only about a decade to put the brakes on global warming if catastrophic climate change is to be averted, say an international group of scientists and politicians.
The International Climate Change Taskforce (ICCT) says that if global temperatures are allowed to rise by more than 2C above pre-industrial levels "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly".
In its report Meeting the Climate Challenge the taskforce says that allowing global average temperatures to go beyond the 2C barrier will cause water shortages, health impacts and agricultural losses on a global scale.
The report argues that to limit temperature rise to no more than 2C atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide will have to be pegged at about 400 parts per million (ppm). Levels are already at 380 ppm and are rising at more than 2ppm a year.
www.ippr.org

An MP has launched a bid to reward people who make energy-saving improvements to their homes with Stamp Duty rebates.
Kevin Barron (Labour, Rother Valley) is now working to convince other MPs to back his Private Member's Bill, which is due for its second reading in the Commons in April.
The Treasury collects around £8bn a year from housebuyers through the tax on property purchase. Duty is levied on all properties worth £60,000 or more, with rates starting at one per cent.
If the bill wins Parliamentary approval it would deliver a slice of the tax's yield to energy-efficiency improvements.
www.rothervalley.org.uk

A company launched to grow and supply biofuels in Pembrokeshire has won a grant from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA). The money has been earmarked by Pembrokeshire Bio Energy Ltd for the establishment of 10 hectares of miscanthus, a grass that can be cropped as a carbon-neutral fuel.
The National Park hopes the grant will help promote interest among farmers in growing energy crops.
www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk

A Scottish island community is about to switch off their diesel generator and go all-renewable.
Residents of the Scottish island of Foula, 12 miles west of Shetland, are planning to use only wind energy, hydro-electric power and electricity generated by solar panels.
Foula's population of 25 people have been given the opportunity to switch to renewables thanks to grants from the Lottery Fund, the EU and local and national government bodies.
Locals are hoping the change will attract eco-tourists to their green-powered island.