In the news
Bright Blue Associate Fellow Ben Caldecott has given five reasons why the UK centre-right should back a climate pact over at Climate Home.
Here's an excerpt:
Anthropogenic climate change is a perfect example of this challenge – carbon pollution has the same impact wherever it is emitted and emissions are currently associated with most forms of economic activity. It is, therefore, impossible to solve without concerted collective action internationally.
Bright Blue Associate Fellow Ben Caldecott has wrote for the Green Alliance blog ahead of the Paris climate change talks.
Here's an excerpt:
The build up to the UN climate change conference in Paris this December began at Durban in 2011, when negotiators agreed to deliver a ‘new and universal greenhouse gas reduction protocol, legal instrument, or other outcome with legal force by 2015 for the period beyond 2020’. Paris is the last opportunity to secure such an agreement.
This is inadequate progress given the urgency of climate change. But the good news is that action on climate change is only partly influenced by the negotiations; most of the on-the-ground action has very little to do with the UN process. It is largely determined by national policies and market innovation.
Bright Blue Associate Fellow Ben Caldecott wrote for ConservativeHome ahead of the budget.
Here's an excerpt:
At the recent General Election, the Conservative Party promised to govern with a ‘long-term economic plan’ and made this a clear point of difference between itself and Labour. A majority Conservative Government must now work to incentivise long-termism throughout the economy – as endemic short-termism in the private and public sectors is a drag on economic growth, destroys our environment, and results in missed economic opportunities.
Bright Blue Associate Fellow Ben Caldecott has wrote for the Guardian arguing that anti-green campaigning from the right will not only harm the environment, but risks re-toxifying the Tory brand.
Here's an excerpt:
In 2010, we went to the country insisting we had changed, but we didn't convince enough people to win a majority. Some have blamed this failure on David Cameron's efforts to "detoxify" the Tory brand, arguing that in 2010, they simply weren't conservative enough. This is the kind of thinking that loses elections. It is these swing voters that hold the keys to a Conservative Downing Street. Their trust is being eroded. If the party returns to its comfort zone, it will return to opposition.
