As a nationwide campaign is launched to help homeowners across the UK to undertake green refurbishments in their homes, WWF is calling on Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary to push the Government to make these changes as simple and affordable as possible for householders.

TV presenter and WWF Ambassador, Kevin McCloud will today (Thursday) outline to Ed Miliband the need for better financial incentives and support to make it easier for homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their property. This is the key aim of the Great British Refurb Campaign, supported by WWF, the Energy Savings Trust, UK Green Building Council, and Grand Designs Magazine.

Kevin McCloud says: “This is a campaign to revolutionise the Great British housing stock. We love our homes but they are big users of energy. That results in a big contribution to climate change and a big hole in our wallet.”

WWF believes that addressing the impact of our existing housing stock is essential if the UK is to meet its climate change targets of reducing CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the homes that will be standing in 2050 are already built, at present our homes are currently responsible for around 27 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions

While it’s important to take steps at home to save energy, much more needs to be done at Government level, so the Great British Refurb Campaign is calling on the Government to:
- Offer householders new ways to pay for green refurbishment, which would significantly reduce upfront costs and spread them over a longer period of time
- Provide better financial incentives for householders to refurbish their homes to make them greener and more energy efficient, through substantial government grants, subsidies, or tax rebates
- Ensure installers are qualified and approved to undertake the work

WWF is proud to be supporting this high profile campaign, alongside its work with the Existing Homes Alliance – a coalition of organisations lobbying for urgent action to reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s existing housing stock.

Earlier this year the Alliance urged the Chancellor to use the April 2009 budget as an opportunity to stimulate a green retrofit programme of the UK’s existing housing stock. Experience from other countries, most notably Germany, shows that investment in the environmental performance of the existing stock acts as a real boost for the labour market and will also help householders to significantly reduce their heating bills.

Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK says: “If the Government is looking for solutions to reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions and stimulate the ‘green economy’ over the next decade there is really no place like home. The roofs over our heads offer huge untapped potential both for the environment and the economy. Research has shown that householders are willing to play their part in tackling climate change, so it is now up to the Government to set out a range of new incentives that are of the sufficient scale, ambition, and urgency to ensure greener, more energy efficient homes.”

As part of the campaign, WWF is urging the UK public to sign a petition that will ask the Government to do more to help consumers finance the green refurbishment of their homes. Kevin McCloud will deliver this petition to 10 Downing Street later in the year. For more information visit wwf.org.uk
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Editor’s notes
The way we live is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity. For more information visit www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet

Recently the Government highlighted new research that shows householders are willing to play their part in tackling climate change and decarbonising our energy supply. Householders were said to be enthusiastic and positive about the concept of a ‘Great British Refurb’ and the idea of generating their own energy through micro-renewables, but sought help with the up-front costs through loans and grants.

I was glad to see so many other people jump on the "carbs make you fat" comment.  No one food or food type makes you fat.  Eating more calories than you burn is what makes you fat.  Of course, fruits and vegetables, cooked in a healthy way (ie not deep-fried) will have fewer calories than overly processed food.  However, if you eat 3000 calories worth of healthy vegetables and only burn 2000 calories doing exercise or any other activity, you will gain weight.

Current Government proposals under new EU legislation need to be more ambitious if they are to deliver the positive change needed to protect Britain’s rivers, according to the campaign Our Rivers being launched today by WWF, RSPB, Angling Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts.

The Environment Agency (EA) will decide the fate of every river in England and Wales through one of eleven regional management plans which are currently in public consultation, ending on 22 June. Final plans will be signed off by the Secretary of State at the end of the year.

The consultation taking place across the country has been criticised for failing to engage many of those who hold vital information about our rivers: anglers who have fished the same stretch for years, community groups who look after their local river and those who rely on the river for their business.

The launch of Our Rivers aims to address this concern by providing a far more straightforward way for people to pass on their unique local knowledge to the EA. The content of the management plans must be informed by those who know and care about their rivers; those who live and work on them.

Tom le Quesne, Freshwater Policy Officer at WWF said: “This consultation is an important step in a process that must deliver a positive improvement to the state of the country’s rivers but the EA have so far failed to effectively involve river users and campaigners in their proposals.

“Our Rivers provides the opportunity for people across the country to take an active role in the consultation and tell Government what needs to be done to protect our rivers for years to come.”

We need freshwater to satisfy a basic human need. It is vital for people’s health and happiness, for the environment and wildlife, and vital to our economy. But we do not treat it with the respect it deserves. We remove billions of litres of water from our environment every day to use in homes, industry and agriculture. Our rivers are also being polluted by contaminants from industry, agriculture and homes and are suffering from the impacts of climate change.

Our Rivers is calling on river groups and users across the country to take this opportunity to stand up for their rivers by sharing their knowledge with the EA. The website which has been launched today (www.ourrivers.org.uk) is a key component of the campaign, enabling people to submit their views, to campaign at local level, win support from their MP and take action to increase the profile of Our Rivers. Information gathered through the website will be presented to the EA and Ministers as a formal request for action – to which they now have a legal obligation to respond.

“Anglers are the curtain twitchers of the river bank and are the first to notice when the insect life changes, the water colour changes or the flow is altered. The Angling Trust will be urging all its members to get involved in the Our Rivers campaign, to ensure that rivers get better protection and action now to restore them to their former glory, for the benefit of all wildlife”, said Mark Lloyd of the Angling Trust.

RSPB’s Director of Conservation, Mark Avery said: “The results of a healthy river are clear to see – the darting blue of a kingfisher, the ripple of a fish jumping for flies and carpets of wild flowers covering a floodplain all provide a real sense of wildness that people enjoy. But for many rivers once common wildlife is missing or under threat.

“What is so exciting about this campaign is that it will be using local knowledge from people who care passionately about the rivers on their doorstep. This campaign will help people give Our Rivers a voice as the Environment Agency and Government set about planning for improvements to 2015 and beyond.”

The launch of Our Rivers will provide a means to identify the issues facing our rivers and enable comparison with the EA’s assessment of the current situation. Urgent action is needed as proposals will be made by the EA to government Ministers in September and final decisions taken in December.

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Editor’s notes

A major new assessment of the health of the rivers and lakes of England and Wales was completed in 2008. It found that less than 20% of them are currently at ‘good status’. Major improvements in sewage treatment in England and Wales over the last 20 years have bought real benefits, but the health of many rivers and lakes is still in long-term decline, with threats from pollution, abstraction and habitat destruction exacerbated by a range of growing pressures such as agricultural intensification, urbanisation and climate change.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires us to meet ‘good status’ in all water bodies by 2015 (with extensions permitted to 2021 or 2027 under some circumstances).

Our Rivers is funded through the global HSBC Climate Partnership. Formed in 2007, the HSBC Climate Partnership brings together HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF to tackle the urgent threat of climate change on people, water, forests and cities. For more information visit www.hsbc.com/climatepartnership

The bid to save one of the world’s most endangered whales took a step forward today as Sakhalin Energy – a major oil and gas consortium – agreed to suspend planned seismic testing in a crucial feeding area for the western gray whale.

However, the future of the whales remains in the balance with other companies failing to make similar commitments. BP, Exxon and Rosneft (a Russian company) have ignored repeated calls to cooperate with the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP).

The Panel, convened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and comprising 11 eminent scientists, met this week with representatives of Shell, Sakhalin Energy, Russian government officials, project lenders and environmental NGOs to review the most recent science on the whales.

New science presented during the meeting revealed a significant decline in sightings and behaviour changes of the whales in their primary feeding area near Piltun Bay. Oil and gas exploration activities in the area appear to have displaced the whales to deeper areas offshore, making it more difficult for whale calves to feed.

WWF-UK’s Species Officer, Heather Sohl, said:

“That Sakhalin Energy have now realised the severity of the situation and agreed to suspend its activities is definitely a step in the right direction – it also demonstrates that collaborative science based initiatives like this panel process can succeed, even on issues as complex as oil and gas development.

“However, other major operators in the area – including major international giants BP and Exxon – have completely ignored pleas to join the panel, disregarded advice on how to mitigate the impacts of their activities, and refused to provide even basic information on what their activities are in the region. Their lack of engagement could have disastrous consequences for the whales.”

The Western Gray Whale is one of the world’s most endangered whales, with only 35 breeding females remaining. The whale feeds only in the summer, and its crucial primary feeding area is offshore Piltun Bay at the north eastern part of Sakhalin shelf.

Last year also saw the Elvary joint venture between Rosneft & BP conducting seismic surveys immediately to the north of the whale feeding area. The company chose to ignore recommendations from the panel, failing to conduct any real “noise monitoring” of their activities.

The refusal by BP, Exxon and Rosneft to help protect one of the world’s most endangered whales comes on the same day that environment ministers from the world’s most industrialized nations and some developing countries agreed to try and slow the rate of species loss around the world. Members of the Group of Eight (G8) concluded their meeting in Sicily today by signing a charter to extend the deal on biodiversity loss.

Alison Grimston asked: Copyright (c) 2008 The Naturally Healthy Pet.comIntroduction: Urinary problems are becoming commoner in cats. Lower urinary tract (LURT) problems are diet-related, while kidney failure increases with maturity and so is commoner in older cats.Symptoms of urinary problems may include more frequent visits to the cat litter tray, weight loss, loss of appetite, [...]

In reaction to the Government’s announcement regarding fitting Carbon Capture technology to coal-fired power stations, Keith Allott, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK said:

“Today’s welcome announcement is potentially a huge step forward and the government has moved a long way on this issue over the past six months. However only the fine print will prove precisely how far they have come.”

It’s not yet clear that there are policies in place to ensure that all coal plants will have Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in place, capturing at least 90 per cent of their emissions by the early 2020s, as recommended in the Climate Change Committees report.

“A strong safety net must be created that will ensure that neither the tax payer nor the climate is left to pay the price should the technology prove to be too expensive or technically too challenging to roll out at full scale,” Keith Allott continues. “While moves to create a new public funding mechanism for CCS demonstrations in order to encourage power companies to invest in this untested technology should certainly be applauded, the polluter must also make significant financial contributions. It must not be left to the taxpayer to shoulder the full brunt of the costs.”

WWF is supporting a Private Member’s Bill (PMB) by Charles Kennedy MP which seeks to introduce an emissions performance standard for new power generation in the UK. The PMB is due to have its second reading on 3 July 2009. An EPS is already supported by the opposition parties.

“Ultimately, the best way to ensure that the UK is not locked into to a high carbon future will be to establish an Emissions Performance Standard and it is great to hear Miliband talking positively about the potential role this could play. A standard – set at the right level – would send a clear signal to power companies to invest now in low carbon power generation.”

The conservation organisation believes that the smart way to deploy CCS technology is on new pre-combustion power plants, where it can be applied from full scale from day one, or if the govt wishes to demonstrate the technology on conventional power plants, then it is only sensible to use an existing station such as Longannet station in Scotland rather than building a new one.

WWF also believes that the UK are more than able to meet its energy and climate needs without new coal if it prioritises achieving our existing renewable and energy efficiency targets. (1).

“The final outcome must avoid planned carbon capture and storage demonstration projects ending up as small fig leaves covering the embarrassment of a new generation of coal,” says Allott. “This would make it incredibly difficult for the UK to meet the newly established carbon budgets.”

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Editor’s notes

1. Closing the Energy Gap, a summary of research commissioned by WWF and Greenpeace and carried out by independent energy consultants Poyry, is available on request

In response to today’s Budget, David Nussbaum, CEO of WWF-UK, said:
“The health of the world economy and our environment are the two huge global threats facing us today. This Budget was the Government’s golden opportunity to propose solutions that tackle both of these problems as one. We needed bold steps to create new green jobs, strong carbon budgets and leadership on cutting emissions. 

“While new money for the renewables sector during this difficult time is welcome, as is government support for electric cars, these are small steps that fall well short of truly addressing the urgency and scale of the problems we face.  The budget was rightly focused on the need to stimulate the economy and create jobs however, what was announced is not the bold leadership we desperately need to secure a truly low-carbon future.”

On the Green Stimulus, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK, Keith Allott said:

“WWF research released this month has shown that the UK is lagging behind other G20 countries in terms of the positive environmental action proposed within our fiscal stimulus. Worse, the few positive elements that were present are more than outweighed by the negative initiatives proposed, such as road building. This Budget was an opportunity to redress that balance yet it appears the Government has failed to seize it.”

On Carbon Budgets, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK, Keith Allott said:

“The UK scored a world first by introducing the Climate Change Act and committing to set legally binding Carbon Budgets. However without strong action, these promises are not enough to avoid dangerous climate change.”

“Today the Government has simply accepted the lower end of the proposed carbon budgets recommended by the Committee on Climate Change last December, yet has failed to endorse the same Committee’s call for a 42% cut in emissions by 2020. This is a serious missed opportunity to lay the foundations of a truly low carbon future in the UK, and to show real, and much-needed leadership, both globally and in the EU.”

On Energy, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK, Keith Allott said:

“It seems that the Government may be beginning to recognise that there is simply no role for new coal power stations without carbon capture and storage from the outset. Moves to speed up testing of CCS could be welcome but the devil will be in the detail – and small-scale demonstration units should not be used to justify a new generation of large-scale, highly polluting power plants like Kingsnorth.”

“The Budget contains some welcome initiatives to support energy efficiency and renewables, but these fall considerably short of what is needed. Unlike CCS, efficiency and renewables can be deployed right now, delivering immediate benefits both to the climate and to the economy”

On Homes, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK and Chair of the Existing Homes Alliance, Colin Butfield said:

 “Ultimately homeowners and the economy have lost out today. This Budget has delivered a massive cash injection into the house-building industry but with no sustainability criteria attached to it to ensure the UK is set on course towards a low carbon economy.”

“There is also nothing in today’s Budget that suggests the Government’s promises for a nationwide retrofit of our existing stock will become a reality. This package fails to include the financial incentives and mechanisms that are vitally needed to encourage widespread take up by homeowners for energy efficiency measures.”

On Transport, Head of Transport at WWF-UK, Peter Lockley said:

“Electric cars are a key factor in decarbonising the UK and the Government is therefore right to support them. Yet the current plan to bail out the British car industry pulls in the opposite direction, because it offers a cash incentive for any car bought from a mini to a gas guzzler, rather than specifically supporting low carbon vehicles.”

“Manufacturing electric cars would provide a substantial boost to the UK economy over the coming decades. But in order for this to happen, the Government needs to incentivise UK car manufacturers to move away from making traditional, heavily polluting cars and towards the production of our own electric vehicles. It is a shift that could make the difference between the UK becoming a world leader in the electric car market or simply a passive consumer of electric vehicles from overseas.”
 
For further information, please contact:

Jo Sargent, Senior Press Officer, WWF-UK
Tel: 01483 412 375, Mob: 07867 697 519, Email: jsargent@wwf.org.uk

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Editor’s notes

1. The Existing Homes Alliance is a group of 77 businesses, energy companies, housing organisations and industry watchdogs who are jointly calling for urgent action to transform the UK’s existing housing stock and make it fit for the 21st century. This week WWF and Kevin McCloud will launch the Great British Refurb Campaign which aims to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s entire housing stock.

2. The way we live in the UK is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity. For more information visit www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet

Kathrynn Kelley asked: It is said that ‘dogs have owners, cats have staff’. Cats are world-renowned for their independent streak and their propensity for completely ignoring their owners until they need them to do something for them.‘Any animal can be trained’ is another saying floating around in the animal training world – and this saying [...]

Gee thats a great idea. Ill show this list to my boss. i work part time in the cafeteria at the college i attend. Our students are required to choose either a 15 or an 18 meal a week plan (no other options and no cooking facilities in the dorms!!!!) i became vegitarian while here simply because the meat they cooked just wasnt right. Like literally made people sick. Theres only two vegans attending right now, but they have such a hard time. Sometimes i make vegan food for them (i live off campus so i can cook), but vegan pie once a week isnt gonna keep them alive. I really wish there were more options, and my boss is always asking for suggestions. Thanks so much!