Options to Combat Climate Change

One of the aims of good government is to pass legislation that balances individual freedoms with wider concerns, allowing unpopular but beneficial policies to be implemented to the benefit of society as a whole. The basic rule is that Government should limit the ability of one person to exercise his rights at the expense of the rights of others.

This principal ought to govern environment policy. We know that we have to change if we are to avert catastrophic global warming but we also know that most of the actions we need to take will improve quality of our lives (once people adjust) and make our cities more pleasant. This ought to help make the greening of our cities more palatable but only if the Government emphasises the advantages and persuades people that lifestyle changes are both necessary and beneficial.

So what could be done? Many things require considerable expenditure but others could be quite simple (although they might consume political capital, which some politicians may be reluctant to expend). Here are a few ideas: 

• Reduce the speed limits on motorways and dual carriageways. Vehicle efficiency improves at lower speeds so this change would reduce fuel consumption and slow the release of carbon dioxide and air pollutants. 
• Improve building regulations. All new builds should be as close to carbon-neutral as possible and should make full use of current technologies to reduce their environmental impact. 
• Go nuclear. Despite Fukushima, nuclear power is still the best method of generating reliable carbon-free electricity; use the new capacity to phase out the coal and oil generators. 
• Plant more trees. There’s plenty of space at the side of roads, along the edges of parks and on otherwise derelict land; trees will help to reduce both airborne pollution and atmospheric CO2. 
• Extend the rail network. Bringing the railways to new towns or reopening old lines would encourage people and business to move away from the roads. 
• Build trams. The tram system in Croydon works and allows people to travel locally without using their cars. 
• Close roads or restrict access at certain times. Building new roads creates more traffic; it seems likely that closing roads or removing lanes will reduce traffic, eventually. 
• Change the airport charging structure to spread traffic around between the major London airports. Concentrating flights at Heathrow is neither efficient nor pleasant. 

All of these measures will have a benefit but the timeframes are sometimes long and most of them incur either heavy costs or short-term pain as people adjust to the new realities. Reducing the number of roads may not be possible until improvements in public transport render them unnecessary but that will take a while; we’re probably looking at a 20-40 year transport plan and infrastructure plan. Planting trees, though, could start immediately. Revising building regulations ought to be a quick win as well.

In short, there are loads of things the Government could do that would move things in the right direction. Let’s hope they start soon.