Action from
Defra
We have now had a further response from Defra (the Department
for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) to our enquiries about
Climate Change. We received a letter this week from Joan Ruddock
MP, the minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste,
outlining some of the steps that the Government is taking to reduce
CO2 emissions from the UK.
Defra are currently trying to engage the general public in
dealing with climate change. They are more than aware that
Government initiatives alone are not going to deal with the problem
as we would all like: current statistics show that over 40% of all
UK CO2 emissions come from actions
taken by individuals (excluding private car use, 27% comes from
household energy alone). To this end, they have launched a £5
million campaign called Act on CO2 which outlines the following plans
for engaging a wider public participation:
- Short films and a New Booklet - two short
films aimed at helping people to understand climate change and to
make the link between their own actions, CO2 emissions and climate change. The films are to
be used by TV broadcasters as fillers between programmes and are
also available on DVD and to download. In April 2007 both films
were also distributed to every secondary school in England. For
more details, or to download the film visit www.climatechallenge.gov.uk .
- Raising Awareness through the Act on CO2 Campaign - Defra intend to launch
TV, press and digital advertising campaigns to raise awareness of
the contribution which individuals make to CO2 emissions. In addition, roadshows took place
from 20th July until 16th September in major shopping centres
around England. These featured visuals from the advertising
campaign and the two films. There is also a major push to inform
young people and children of the situation. A Dectectives
Kit forms part of the Government's Sustainable Schools
Programme, encouraging school children to take their own initiative
in exploring their school and home's CO2 emissions. Lastly, Defra are running a
competition to appoint new Climate Change Champion. The 9
Champions will each represent a region of England and will have the
important task of communicating climate change to people both in
their regions and nationally. To become and Champion, young people
aged 11 to 18 will be challenged to show how they can encourage
their peers to get involved and take effective action. For more
details of these two inititiaves, please visit http://www.climatechallenge.gov.uk/, and www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools.
- Climate Challenge Funding - Alongside the
Act on CO2 campaigns and the
sustainable schools programme, Defra is providing £8.5m in support
of 83 community and grassroots projects through the Climate
Challenge Fund. The projects are aimed at encouraging more positive
attitudes towards tackling climate change and are run by third
section organisations as well as local authorities. For a list of
the Climate Challenge Fund projects and their locations across
England see www.climatechallenge.gov.uk.
As your constiuency MP, I continue to campaign wherever possible
regarding this issue, and we will continue to provide updates as
and when we receive them, including the date for the first debate
on the new Climate Change Bill. Watch this space!
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on 20th June 2007 as a public trial
version. The calculator allows people and households to work out
their CO