Pressures grow on response to climate change
THE pressure on Guernsey to respond to climate change issues has accelerated significantly in the past few days. Deputy Chief Minister Heidi Soulsby says that it must become a priority for the States, just as the think tank Gpeg says something very similar. Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez has robustly defended the efforts made so far.
At the same time Guernsey Electricity watches the developing conflict in Ukraine having an impact on energy prices globally, while it continues to wrestle with the challenges of attempting to develop renewable energy, balanced against cost considerations and security of supply.
The States says it is making good progress on an electricity strategy. But with much-heralded agreements when the island signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate change late last year, E&I’s progress to date appears to be much more behind-the-scenes than front of house. It says: ‘We have made no secret of the fact that energy and the environment are priorities this political term.’
Guernsey has now made a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 57% on 1990 levels by 2030, and to get to net-zero by 2050.
Many islanders will be keen to know how they can contribute to climate change mitigation, but still await information from government about how any of this can be achieved, as the climate change clock keeps ticking. It’s clear that such major issues are unlikely to be resolved in five minutes – particularly when government doesn’t have the money to throw at the problem. But the talk and work in the background has to lead somewhere, and plans for action will be required well before the life of this States to deliver commitments for 2030.
Isolated actions – the kind of ideas being floated on an almost daily basis – may not take us anywhere by themselves, but islanders will fear the prospect of paralysis from the sheer scale of the challenge facing the States and the island.
As Deputy Soulsby says: ‘There are various strands in the Government Work Plan that deal with it but, as a mission critical issue, we should be demonstrating our commitment is real and meaningful.’ The next iteration of the GWP should be insightful.