U.N. Climate Change Report: Act now or parts of East Anglia will disappear under the North Sea warn Greens

02 February 2007

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published today confirms that there is an extremely high probability that humans are causing climate change and that unless radical action is taken to cut carbon emissions immediately, dramatic consequences will follow. The report is the conclusion of the work of thousands of scientists from over 100 countries.

The Green Party has been warning for over 20 years that the developing science of climate change should be taken much more seriously. Likely impacts of climate change on East Anglia could include:

Hotter, drier summers with more frequent droughts. Episodes of extreme temperatures causing distress for vulnerable people such as the elderly. Greater stress on water supplies and increasing demands for irrigation as soils dry faster. Stress on native trees, plants and animals. Some species may start dying out including oak trees.

Wetter, milder winters with more local flooding and more severe wind storms. This could cause greater structural damage, leading to increasing insurance premiums.

Steady sea level rise and increasing risks of storm surges in the southern North Sea. Greater risk of breaches of sea defences in coastal towns leading to higher insurance premiums. Faster erosion of cliffs. More farmland abandoned to the sea. If the Greenland ice cap substantially melts, sea level rise will be several metres. It will probably be too expensive or difficult to try and defend some coastal towns which may have to be evacuated. Tens of thousands of people may need to be rehoused. If Greenland completely melts, sea level rise will be around 7 metres (this could take hundreds of years to melt but once started could be irreversible) leading to large coastal towns being flooded. Hundreds of thousands of people could need to be rehoused in East Anglia. Large parts of the Essex estuary coastlands, the Fens and the Broadlands would disappear under the North Sea. The Thames Gateway and even central London would be at high risk of flooding.

At the 1989 European Elections, the Green Party produced a report showing what would happen to the East Anglian coastline if global warming went unchecked. Green Councillors and campaigners in the region have since continued to press for carbon emission reductions through energy efficiency in new housing, cutting light pollution, investing in renewable energy, opposing the expansion of Luton, Norwich, Southend and Stansted Airports and opposing new major road building. Greens have supported controversial projects including investment in large offshore wind farms and switching some streetlights off at midnight in Essex, projects which will substantially reduce regional CO2 emissions.

Eastern Region Green Party Climate Change spokesperson Cllr. James Abbott said:

"The IPCC report must act as a final warning that "business as usual" economics should no longer be on the agenda. The longer action on climate change is delayed, the worse the consequences will be and the harder it will be to make the necessary changes. Short term greed cannot be allowed to threaten lives of our children and future generations. To make our proportionate contribution to preventing dangerous climate change, the UK needs to be cutting CO2 emissions by three quarters in the next few decades - yet under Labour they are rising.

Government needs to stop pandering to the likes of the low cost airline bosses who want to fill the skies with planes and the volume developers who behind the scenes are opposing renewable energy on new developments. Government green rhetoric needs to become green action - otherwise its just more hot air.

The Green Party has consistently warned that climate change needs to be taken seriously and that developing a green economy is an essential step towards tackling the problem. Yet the other political parties have continued to support projects that push up carbon emissions. Even now, Tory, Labour and Lib Dem politicians in this region are supporting unsustainable road building and airport expansion. Energy hungry casinos, more out of town retail parks and the "Snoasis" scheme are being promoted, all of which will add to climate change. Meanwhile, very little has been done to improve energy efficiency and to stop wasting energy.

There is an urgent need for the Government to allow local authorities to champion the move to a green economy. Giving councils powers to require developers to install renewable energy and set high building standards could dramatically reduce CO2 emissions from new developments. A much simpler and more generous grant system is needed to encourage existing householders to fit renewable energy systems such as mini-turbines and solar panels and to improve insulation for their homes.

Investment needs to be switched from building more roads into public transport, particularly the railways and bus services, which should all return into public regulation. Investment in recycling needs to be boosted to achieve at least 50% of all types of waste within the next few years. And as a society we need to stop wasting energy - there is an obvious need to encourage all sectors to reduce energy use by switching off lighting and appliances when not in use and by investing in modern switching systems that save energy through sensors and timers.

There are huge opportunities in revitalising the rural economy through supporting local food production and forestry, which would cut "food miles", help absorb more CO2 and create local jobs.

There is no single magic wand to solve the climate change problem - and some of the impacts are now inevitable. But preventing much more severe impacts will only happen through taking action at all levels of society and throughout the world. As an advanced developed economy we could be setting a good example, but so far there is very little evidence that this Labour Government is willing to take the tough decisions that are needed."