Let the people have a say on climate issues

Guernsey is no exception. The island’s Climate Change Policy 2020-2050 and Climate Change Action Plan were approved by the States in August 2020. This legislates the target objective for the island’s emissions as set by the 2020-2050 Energy Policy, sets the scope of emissions to be included, and the hierarchical approach to be applied to reduce emissions, in order to mitigate or compensate climate change impact. It seems to be making modest progress.

Environment & Infrastructure Committee president Lindsay De Sausmarez, far from the only environmentalist in the Assembly but surely the one most prepared to front up on this topic, heads off to Glasgow in the next couple of days full of enthusiasm, while the States rather drags its heels, confident in a 30-year range to meet its targets.

In Glasgow, Deputy De Sausmarez expects to learn much, and will have two messages to put out to the other nations interested to listen.

The first is on the strength of the island’s green and sustainable finance proposition. In place now for just three years, it has picked up pace, though is still somewhat perceived as a ‘nice idea’ rather than a ‘game changer’ for the industry. But it continues to move forward.

The second is Guernsey itself. As a small island, can we achieve anything on climate change that might be seen as meaningful in a global context? Deputy De Sausmarez says emphatically yes. ‘If we can’t, then who can?’ she said on our new COP26 podcast yesterday.

Maybe the States needs to pull in more help from islanders to reach these goals. One of the action points on the Climate Change Action Plan was to investigate the feasibility of a Citizen’s Assembly to contribute to the net zero emissions debate. Similar bodies are already live in the UK, Ireland and Jersey, and Guernsey people want to contribute. Climate change mitigation is an action point for all of us – let’s let the people have a say and drive this forward.