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In a report released by CDP, the climate change expenditure incurred by the United Kingdom is lagging far behind many of its other European counterparts like Germany, Italy and Sweden. CDP or formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project is the United Kingdom-based organization that helps companies to disclose the major environmental impacts of their operations. The organization has, since its inception, helped thousands of countries from several nations do more for the environment and make the planet greener.
Europe is one of the most industrially developed areas of the world. The continent has also seen in the past most use of coal and oil as energy resources. The unabated use of these resources in the past century has been solely responsible for the current industrial position of the continent. The effort, while making the continent one of the most advanced in its stage of human advancement, has also brought it close to a state of ecological disaster. The carbon footprint of the United Kingdom and some of the other European Union countries are amongst the highest in the world. Even large countries like India and China are emitting less carbon dioxide than many of the developed countries of the world and it is also highly likely that in their future course of development they will not emit the same level of carbon as has been done by the European countries in the past.
It is now well understood in Europe that the current state of industrial development in the continent is unsustainable. In the past few years, the European Union has taken several measures to limit its carbon emissions and intends to do more for preserving and protecting the environment. While the United Kingdom was a part of the European Union, it had been part of several environmental regulations that had been brought about by the Union in order to bring about environmental degradation effects under control. Among the most important regulations that have been brought in are the individual country requirements that have now been delegated to individual countries in order to reduce their carbon footprints. With regards to the corporate sector, regulations have been imposed on the automobile sector to increasingly produce vehicles with low carbon emissions and to eventually phase out Internal combustion technology for engines of transportation vehicles and to stop using petrol/diesel consuming machinery altogether. More and more emphasis is now being put on electric vehicles with power sourced from renewable sources of energy.
During the past few years, the United Kingdom has been embroiled with complications concerning Brexit. Ever since the country decided to part its ways from the European Union in July of 2016, much of its legislative time and energy has been spent on devising ways and means to ensure that the event passes smoothly without causing much harm to the economy. Till that time, much of the legislative framework in the country regarding carbon emissions were derived from the European Union and most of the countryâs businesses were also guided by the regulations enacted in Brussels. With the Brexit withdrawal, most of the British companies are now not bound by the European Union regulations and in the absence of comparative legislation in the United Kingdom, they have become lax in their efforts towards minimizing carbon emissions and environmental degradation.
The United Kingdom has been affected by severe climatic conditions in the past decade. The country has witnessed severe floods and heatwave conditions like what hadnât been witnessed in the country before. Â The material loss and other associated costs because of these climatic conditions have also been mounting over the years. Air pollution is being held responsible today for the majority of the respiratory-related illnesses in the country while other forms of pollution are being held responsible for a host of other types of ailments. The writing on the wall is also clear; climate scientists and environmentalists are giving specific warnings, they are categorical that the average temperature of the world is increasing at an accelerated pace, which will eventually lead to the melting of Icecaps in the polar regions. With the polar icecaps gone, the ocean water levels in the world will go up by several feet at least, putting most of the populated coastal areas of the world under water and spelling doom for island countries like Japan and the United Kingdom.
Though behind several other European countries in terms of net activism on the environmental front, a significant amount of work is taking place in the country on this front as well. The country is taking steps to phase out the use of coal in every sphere of the industrial and domestic activity. While being part of the European Union, the country had met most of the environmental targets set for it. In the past, nearly two decades the adaptation of renewable resources for electricity generation has seen rapid growth. As per the 2019 DUKES report published by the Government while only two per cent of the electricity generated in the country was from renewable resources in 2002, the proportion climbed to fifteen per cent by the end of 2018. The country has been investing heavily in onshore and offshore wind turbines, solar photovoltaic plants, mid and small-scale hydroelectric power projects, etc. Utility companies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the European Union are also being asked to increasingly source their energy requirements from renewable resources and shun the use of coal and crude oil or gas for energy production. The steel sector, cement sector and thermal energy sector which use significant amounts of coal are now being asked to substitute or significantly reduce their use of coal or attract substantial penalties. The airline industry in the country is also not being spared. The industry is the one that emits carbon dioxide and other derivative greenhouses gases in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. It is now facing regulations to improve its performances on this front.
The United Kingdom understands the importance of doing more for the environment and is expected to definitely increase its spending in this regard in the time to come. The government has recently announced its plans to spend nearly £1 trillion in the next couple of years in public spending. Needless to say, a significant amount of investment will find its way to environmentally friendly technologies and infrastructure that will lead to a cleaner and greener future for the United Kingdom.
