Transport

UK’s Sustainable Development Commission calls for action, but faces axe

The UK’s Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has released a report today calling for the Coalition Government to step up its green ambitions to make wider reaching efficiency cuts.

But according to media reports, the SDC’s future is now in jeopardy in order to meet targets for the Government’s public spending cuts.

The SDC was set up nearly a decade ago as the Government’s independent adviser on sustainable development and a watchdog for its departments and agencies.

Supporters like environmental group Friends of the Earth say that the Commission plays a crucial role in getting government departments to work together on issues like climate change.

“The Coalition must be held to account on its promise to be the greenest Government ever – and explain how it will continue to green Britain… without the SDC’s expert guidance and overview,” says Friends of the Earth’s executive director Andy Atkins.

In its latest report, the SDC reports that the previous administration saved around £60-70 million a year through sustainability measures, and £300-350 million in savings from improvements in energy and water consumption, waste and recycling and reduced road transport will be made over the next five years.

But the new Government could save even more if it extends its commitment to be the ‘greenest Government ever’ beyond carbon to include water consumption and waste.

The Coalition’s pledge to cut carbon emissions from central government 10% over the next year will create benefits equivalent to £13 million, says the SDC, as well as reduced energy bills.

But a further £7.5 million could be saved by reducing road transport, £6.5 million from improvements in waste and water consumption and increasing the lifespan of computers by a couple of years – which is saving one government department £35 million.

“Sustainable development is no peripheral, nice-to-have concept for prosperous times. It is the best way of delivering more for less, while ensuring that the drive for efficiencies doesn’t cost more in the long run,” says SDC chair Will Day.

For further information:
www.sd-commission.org.uk/
www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=1097
www.foe.co.uk

22 July 2010

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