Thursday 21 October 2010

What does the Comprehensive Spending Review mean for sustainability?

Yesterday, on 20/10/10, the hotly anticipated Spending Review took place behind closed doors and now the verdict is in. Although intimate details are still not confirmed, the outcome for sustainability was a mixed bag and it gives a sense of the government’s priorities for the future. Here is a quick low down:

Green Investment Bank
· £1bn will be used to invest in low carbon research and infrastructure projects
· £200m for renewable energy: mainly offshore wind and port infrastructure adjustments to enable wind turbines to more easily be handled.
· The Green Investment Bank is delayed and will be operational 2013-14.

Energy
· £860m to promote use of low carbon energy for heating buildings.
· Feed In Tariff: Currently at around 43p per Kwh, there were rumours it would be cut by 10-20%, but this time the FIT was spared. They are likely to be cut 2013-14.
· £1bn has been set aside for a project demonstrating carbon capture and storage technology
· Renewable Heat Incentive: It has been a long time coming and £860mn will be spent on it over the next 4 years.
· The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) has been further changed: several thousand retailers and commercial companies will pay for their greenhouse gas emissions and the money will go into public spending, rather than being recycled within the same scheme, as originally intended.

Transport
· The Cross Rail project for London has the go ahead, but will be delayed by a year after cuts of more than £1bn. The central section will now be complete by 2018.
· Improvements to tube service in London will go ahead.
· Public transport fares to increase with inflation plus 3%.

Departments
· Dept for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) 5% fall average in yearly budget.
· and the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) to cut jobs.
· The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its agencies will shed 5000-8000 jobs from their 30,000 strong work force, with an 8% yearly fall in budget.

Further reading
· The Green Deal
· Guardian Environment Blog

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