Jul
2010
A sustainable future for the UK?
Things are looking bleak. As the Government continues to predict that it will become ‘the greenest ever’, it is increasingly realising that – as Liam Byrne so eloquently put it – ‘there is no money left’.
Yesterday afternoon the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) released details of a new report that claims the UK risks failure in its quest to pioneer a low-carbon future unless it takes measures to protect and increase spending. Low-carbon initiatives, it said, must continue to get Government support or risk falling into the ‘valley of death’ where they never reach the market.
The timing of both announcements is sure to grate on Chris Huhne and co, who, just last week took steps to cut £34m from the country’s low-carbon technology programme. Difficult questions are sure to be asked.
But this perceived ‘lack’ of investment is nothing new. The CCC claim that Britain already lags behind other developed nations in terms of the proportion of GDP spent on projects to help the country meet its carbon-reduction targets. While Japan invests 0.9% of GDP for example, Britain invests just 0.1%.
Last week I visited the Sustainable Futures exhibition at London Design Museum and witnessed first hand the role innovation and creative thinking has to play in developing the next generation of green technology.
Focussing on using local, natural resources to create and maintain a low-carbon footprint, designs range from those focussing on large communities – such as city developments in Abu Dhabi and Brazil – to ideas that help you monitor your own carbon footprint (Carbon Ration Book anyone?).
(My personal favourites include the ‘Virtual Water Footprint’ and ‘Changing Habbits’ initiatives – worth checking out)
Notably, designs from the UK were in relatively short supply. Those that did begin life in British brains remain pretty much unknown – coincidence? Perhaps. But surely this is a chance we can no longer afford to take.
As Buckminster Fuller once said, ‘the best way to predict the future is to design it’. Britain’s green future rests on giving those with innovative solutions the tools they need to make them fly. Only time will tell whether the Government’s recent cuts will damage its chances of developing a sustainable future for the UK.
