Blueprint for a Green Economy

Blueprint for a Green Economy Submission to the Shadow Cabinet Quality of Life Policy Group Chairman, Rt Hon John Gummer MP Vice-Chairman, Zac Goldsmith September 2007 Contents Preface 3 About the Quality of Life Policy Group 5 Chapter 1 Introduction: A Confident Society 7 Chapter 2 The Wellbeing of a Nation 39 Chapter 3 The Built Environment 59 Chapter 4 Rural Life; Food and Farming; Fishing and the Marine Environment 135 Chapter 5 Water: The First Essential 215 Chapter 6 Waste: Towards a Zero Waste Economy 253 Chapter 7 Energy: Low Carbon and Credible 271 Chapter 8 Transport: Connectivity 307 Chapter 9 The Imperative of Climate Change 359 Appendices 449 Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations 537 Bibliography 541 1 2 Preface The Quality of Life Policy Group was set up by David Cameron to recommend policies to the Shadow Cabinet. What follows are our recommendations for consideration by the Conservative frontbench, the Conservative Party more widely, and the large number of people outside who are looking for solutions that break away from current political restrictions. It is not for us to define Conservative policy but what we have proposed here sits firmly in the Tory tradition. Since its inception the Conservative Party has recognised that, if it is to uphold its continuing principles in a changing world, those principles have to be applied in a contemporary way so that they are relevant to a new generation. The remit of the Group was to consider holistically the issues of the built environment; rural life; food, farming, fishing and the marine environment; transport; energy; waste; and water. All these are fundamentally affected by two significant concerns: Climate change and social unease. Climate change is the most significant material threat to our future, while the degree to which our society has become dysfunctional, inhibits our ability to succeed as a nation. We cannot go on as we are, ignoring the effects of the world’s misuse of its resources while, at the same time, pretending that we have a society at ease with itself. The Policy Group has become convinced that radical change is essential. More of the same is not an option. What follows provides the basis for that necessary change. It is only the beginning. There is much more to be done to refine and extend the proposals which we offer. They are fundamentally Conservative proposals, even though we have drawn on the help and expertise of people of all parties and none. They rely on the strength and power of the market even though they reflect values that reach above and beyond it. They recognise the imperative of prosperity but acknowledge that growth is unsustainable without social justice. They concentrate on a programme for Britain but present that programme in the context of Europe and the wider world. This Report is fundamentally optimistic. In the face of the threat from climate change, we believe that Britain is capable of again rising to the challenge of leadership. We shall not be able to do it alone but, without us, it will be difficult for it to be done at all. However, our optimism is tempered by a realisation of the size of the task and the shortness of the time. Action and urgency are its recurrent themes. Britain has delayed too long. It deserves a government with the clarity of vision and the strength of purpose to act and to act decisively. We present these proposals for action in the hope and belief that the next Conservative government will provide the leadership and the delivery that our nation has lacked for a decade. 3 4 About the Quality of Life Policy Group The Chairman of the Board of the Policy Group was Rt. Hon John Gummer MP and the Vice-Chairman was Zac Goldsmith. The other members were: Jules Peck (Director); Tim Eggar; Nick Hurd MP; Ali Miraj; Steven Norris; Benet Northcote; Tom Oliver; David Strong; Kay Twitchen; Kim Wilkie. Their declaration of interests may be found on our website www.qualityoflifechallenge.com. Members of the secretariat to the Policy Group were: Susan Davies; Clare Devereux; Clare Kerr; Michael Lunn; Nat Mason; Tara Singh; Nikki Talbot; Harriet Williams. Members of the Board chaired a whole series of study groups over nearly two years. They brought together as members, advisers or witnesses, hundreds of people from all over the country, drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and political affiliations. We would like to thank all the individuals and organisations who generously gave their time to participate in this review, and to extend and enrich our understanding, especially members of the various policy working groups. While these groups were an important part of the consultative process, the final Report is necessarily a synthesis and none of the participants can be held accountable for all, or part, of it. That remains the responsibility of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman. We would like to reiterate that participation in the working groups of the Quality of Life Policy Group does not imply affiliation to the Conservative Party. A full list of acknowledgments can be found on our website: www.qualityoflifechallenge.com. 5 6 Chapter 1. Introduction: A Confident Society Contents Section 1.1. A Confident Society 8 Section 1.2. Conservatives – Redefining Progress 15 Section 1.3. The Journey 26 7 Section 1.1. A Confident Society ‘The great Error of our Nature is not to know where to stop; not to be satisfied with any reasonable Acquirement; not to compound with our Condition; but to lose all we have gained by an insatiable Pursuit after more.’ Edmund Burke, 1757 ‘Modern compassionate Conservatism means recognising that there’s more to human life than getting and spending money.’ David Cameron, 2005 1.1.1. The case for change Two centuries of industrialisation and economic growth have brought humanity huge material progress, from which Britain has benefited enormously. The post-war period, in particular, has been one of unprecedented prosperity. We have better homes, jobs, cars, education, and health care than ever before. We go on holidays to places our grandparents could only dream of. We have more money and more things to buy with it, than ever before in our history. Yet, despite that material progress, the UK seems to be experiencing a ‘social recession.’ Social cohesion is under increasing strain. Levels of trust, in each other and in our institutions, are dwindling. Rates of mental illness, drug abuse, ‘binge-drinking’, family break-up, and other symptoms of an unhappy society are rising inexorably. That is not to say that things were better in the ‘good old days’ but simply that material prosperity has not made us a contented society. Meanwhile, the damaging impact of our economic growth on the environment is increasingly obvious. Most urgently, global climate change tells us that our reliance on fossil fuels must be brought swiftly to an end. But climate change is only one symptom of the damage wrought by today’s lifestyles. There are others too: on a global level, we are seeing desertification, soil erosion, the destruction of forests and the continued extinction of unique species. At a national and local level we suffer air, noise, and light pollution, thoughtless development and the destruction of valued wildlife sites. What is going wrong? Standard economic theory tells us that there is a direct link between material wealth and human happiness. The more we have, in material terms, the more content it was thought we would be. The reality, however, seems to be more complex. When a nation is already wealthy, the continued pursuit of a very narrowly defined economic growth can have the effect of degrading the quality of life even while the figures show that it is increasing the standard of living. In other words: beyond a certain point – a point which the UK reached some time ago – ever- increasing material gain can become not a gift but a burden. As people, it makes us less happy, and the environment upon which all of us, and our economy, depend is increasingly degraded by it. This paradox poses a key question: can we continue to be an economically successful nation and, at the same time, an environmentally and socially healthy one? By following the current model we clearly can’t. Yet, the authors of this Report believe that there is a way through, given leadership and resolve. We need, however, to rethink how we measure our progress as a country. We need vigorously 8 to tackle climate change and the other symptoms of our misuse of the planet, and we need also to commit ourselves, not just to economic, but to social and environmental growth. We believe that doing so is entirely consistent with long-standing Conservative principles. We believe, also, that the pursuit of this aim can provide Britain with a new national purpose – true 21st century politics – a regeneration of our society and its values. 1.1.2. Hitting the buffers? John Maynard Keynes1 calculated that between 2000 BC and the early eighteenth century, the standards of living in ‘civilised countries’ doubled. Yet, between those two dates, the material basis of society changed surprisingly little. In 2000 BC we already had fire, language, the wheel, the plough, sail, banks, governments, maths, and religion; in the 18th century, these things still formed the basis of our civilisation. The industrial revolution and the limited liability company changed all that. Mankind had a powerful source of energy, the means to harness it, and the financial mechanisms to exploit it. At the same time, modern advances in medicine, beginning with the smallpox vaccine, led to ever increasing life expectancy and ever falling infant mortality.

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