Priorities for the next Government

2 | Environmental Industries Commission

The challenge The focus of the coming Election will be competing views about how to secure future economic growth and jobs. Yet current growth is already putting severe pressure on our natural resources and ecosystems. For example urban air quality has not improved and traffic levels are starting to rise for the first time since the recession, while 7m ha of additional usuable land may be needed to meet future development and food needs.1 This presents an acute sustainability dilemma for the next government. The need to prioritise continued economic growth, not least to reduce the deficit, and to tackle the national infrastructure deficit (eg 880,000 new homes and £279bn of new energy infrastructure will be needed over the coming years),2,3 means that resource and ecosystems pressures will get even greater over the next five years. Imagination, innovation and political will be needed to manage this dilemma.

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Five priorities for the next Government 1. Make new infrastructure sustainable All mainstream parties will enter the Election committed to one of the largest infrastructure investment programmes ever seen. New homes, new energy generation, a new high speed rail line, possibly new airport runways, are all increasingly seen as essential to Britain’s future competitiveness and standard of living. The next Government must make sure this new infrastructure does not compromise environmental goals and where possible embeds sustainability. Action needed: New runway capacity must be compatible with UK carbon and air quality targets, new homes should be built on brownfield sites where possible and incorporate sustainable drainage and high energy efficiency, and construction site machinery must have emissions filters. Construction sites generate significant emissions

15%

85%

Non Road Mobile Machinery All other urban emission sources

Source: www.transportenvironment.org

4 | Environmental Industries Commission

2. Deliver real air quality improvement to protect the public Britain’s poor urban air quality is failing EU limits but more importantly contributing to the illness and premature death of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens.4 No other environmental issue hits public health in this way. We need real political will from the next Government to make a difference. Action needed: A package of policies is needed to tackle different elements of the problem. Buses with old diesel engines need to be retrofitted. There must be tighter restrictions on emissions from construction site machinery. The case for promoting lower emission fuels such as LPG needs to be re-examined. Development of zero-emission vehicles such as electric vehicles must be continued. Mean annual NO2 concentrations across Leicester 80 70 60

µg / m3

50 40 30 20 10 0

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

EU safe limit value NO2 level, at various locations in Leicester Source: Davis & Pollard, 2012

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3. Enforce existing regulations properly Environmental policy is only as good as its enforcement. Too often policies are not delivering because enforcement has not been thought through or is not resourced appropriately. So we have waste being flytipped, broken diesel particulate filters on vehicles not replaced, less than 5% of commercial air conditioner systems compliant with energy efficiency standards.5 This creates the worst of all worlds – the expected environmental benefits are not realised, while those sceptical of green regulations claim proof that such regulations are a burden that create no benefit. Action needed: Both existing and new regulations must be properly enforced.

4. Support exports of environmental goods and services The global market for environmental technologies and services is worth £3.4trillion.6 UK firms have a reasonable share of this market but as more countries grapple with challenges in areas in which we have expertise such as waste management and contaminated land we can do better. Action needed: UKTI needs to work closely with trade bodies such as EIC to develop more detailed mapping of UK environmental sector strengths and export market opportunities.

6 | Environmental Industries Commission

5. Deliver a step change in energy efficiency We cannot meet our emissions targets unless we use less energy, particularly in our buildings. We have made progress, but have a lot further to go. In particular, the combination of the increasing complexity of the policy landscape, and politicians’ desire to manage the politics of energy prices, has led to uncertainty for funders and building owners. Action needed: Existing policies announced but not implemented must be taken forward as a matter of urgency. A rationalisation of the policy framework is needed. The barriers for commercial business with property portfolios must be examined. Assessment of planned policies against future targets – all buildings (non-traded) 120 100

60 40

2027

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

0

2008

20

2007

MtCO2

80

Policy gap DECC ‘pre-2009 policy’ baseline CCC cost-effective path to 2050 (i.e. revised Fourth Carbon Budget trajectory) Outturn Source: DECC (2013) Updated emissions projections; CCC analysis

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The UK environmental sector Size: £128bn

sales

51,000

companies

Jobs: 938,000 employees

Resilience: 4.8% growth in

2011/12 compared to

Exports: 8.1% of global

environmental market

0.9% for whole economy

Source: Low Carbon and Environmental Load and Services Report (BIS, 2013)

8 | Environmental Industries Commission

Ten policy recommendations with no or low public cost zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

zz

Set up a statutory Committee on Air Quality, accountable to Parliament and with equivalent duties to the Climate Change Committee National Framework of Low Emission Zones with proper enforcement Revenue-neutral changes to vehicle tax to halt the current trend of displacement of petrol by diesel vehicles Reduce motorway/dual-carriageway speed limit to 60mph in Air Quality Management Areas Prompt implementation of Minimum Energy Performance Standards proposals and Allowable Solutions Government support for provision/collation of benchmarking data of non-domestic building energy use UKTI/industry mapping study of export opportunities for environmental industries Make a long term commitment to the carbon price floor Introduce a national Quality Mark Scheme for Land affected by Contamination Strengthen GHG reporting guidelines on ‘embodied emissions’

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Endnotes 1. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/two-million-hectare-shortfall-in-ukland-possible-by-2030-study-finds 2. http://www.acenet.co.uk/electionmanifesto/606 3. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-infrastructure-plan 4. http://healthyair.org.uk/the-problem/ 5. http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Air_conditioning_inspection 6. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/224068/bis-13-p143-low-carbon-and-environmental-goods-andservices-report-2011-12.pdf

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For more information contact: The Environmental Industries Commission Alliance House 12 Caxton Street London SW1H 0QL T: 020 7222 4148 [email protected] www.eic-uk.co.uk Follow us on twitter – @EICUKtweets

The Environmental Industries Commission (EIC), founded in 1995, represents the businesses which provide the technologies and services that delivery environmental performance across the economy. In short, we are the voice of the green economy. Our members are innovative and the leading players in their field, and include technology manufacturers, developers, consultancies, universities, and consulting engineers.