Scottish Government Publish 2011 Spending Review

• Commit £200 million to the Fuel Poverty and Domestic Energy Efficiency programmes over the next three years. The funds will also aim to leverage additional funding from energy companies and other sources
• Commit £69 million to reduce congestion and support better public transport, active travel, low carbon vehicles and freight modal shift
• Use the Scottish Futures Fund to provide additional support for emissions reduction measures, with £100 million for Warmer Homes and Future Transport over the course of this Parliament;
• Enhance the Community Renewable Energy Scheme to aim to reach a target of 500 megawatts of community and locally-owned renewable energy by 2020
• Improve the energy efficiency of the public estate and the school estate, e.g. through improving energy efficiency with the new HMP Grampian, and the pilot project to deliver high quality, sustainable designs for the new Eastwood and Lasswade High Schools
• New buildings standards in place from 2013 with the aim of cutting building emissions by a further 30% from the requirements set down in 2010
• Improve the efficiency of existing infrastructure - e.g., Scottish Water's continued programme to reduce leakage, and its installation of small-scale hydro generation turbines within existing water assets
• To work towards a 70% target for recycled waste and a maximum of 5% to be sent to be landfill by 2025; to support businesses to use resources more efficiently; and to help families and individuals to reduce their waste - e.g. by cutting food waste

 

Verified Carbon Standards Growing in Polularity

Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) are growing in popularity and will be set to prosper if there is not a dramatic change of opinion by World leaders to continue with the support of the Kyoto Protocol and CDM projects beyond 2012.

Carbon trading outside of the political regimes is operated via VERs (Voluntary Emission Reduction). VERs generally have a broader mix of proejct with a simpler registration process and therefore lowers the cost. All VERs must be of a Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) to qualify.
REDD credits are also cropping up under VCS - REDD in Kenya
http://v-c-s.org/

Clean Informatics Blog

Link to a Blog by Andrew Mitchell of Edinburgh Centre on Climate Change (ECCC)  it provides useful information on news and views on how Informatics and ICT can help deliver a low carbon economy.  The blog includes links to Scottish Cleantech start-ups.
http://www.cleaninformatics.com/
http://cleaninformatics.com/renminpresentations/beijing24082011_session_3_ict.pdf

EU Sustainable Roadmap

The European Commission set out a 'roadmap' aimed at transforming Europe's economy into a sustainable one by 2050.  The Roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe outlines how we can achieve the resource efficient growth which is essential for our future wellbeing and prosperity.
The roadmap identifies the economic sectors that consume the most resources, and suggests tools and indicators to help guide action in Europe and internationally.

European Commission

Huhne earmarks £35mn for energy efficiency innovation

Energy and climate change minister Chris Huhne set out the measures the Government has developed to improve consumer protection and increase the powers of Ofgem. He announced that £35mn has been earmarked to support the development and demonstration of innovative technologies and systems that can reduce carbon emissions from buildings. He also confirmed that a new Energy Efficiency Deployment Office will be established within DECC.
DECC

2010 carbon targets “decisively missed”

A report issued by Cambridge Econometrics on Friday 16 September said the Government’s goal of a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2010 has been “decisively missed” as the result of a further increase in carbon emissions despite a sharp reduction in 2009. The group warned the Government that it will need to put effective policies in place for renewables generation targets to be achieved and energy demand needs to be reduced if the country is to meet its goal of becoming a low-carbon economy.
Cambridge Econometrics

Friends of the Earth say "Council carbon cuts due to recession not green action". FoE

ETI launches major project for future roll-out of CCS in the UK

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) today launched a £3m project that will help support the future design, operation and roll-out of cost effective carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems in the UK, helping to ensure the UK’s leadership position in this area.


The two-and-a-half year long project will create a modelling tool-kit capable of simulating the operation of all aspects of the CCS chain, from capture and transport to storage.
ETI

LULUCF in the National Inventory

Report from Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on behalf of DECC for Land Use, Land Use Change & Forestry sector shows that land converted to cropland released the most carbon, but allowing forestry land to remain as forest sequested the most carbon.

DECC

Businesses tackle demand for clear, concise carbon reporting

International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) published a new framework for carbon reporting which will be roadtested next month.

The Paper - Communicating Value in the 21st Century, considers the rationale for Integrated Reporting, offering initial proposals for the development of an International Integrated Reporting Framework and outlining the next steps towards its creation and adoption. Its purpose is to prompt input from all those with a stake in improved reporting, including producers and users of reports.

IIRC

Scottish Government's Economic Strategy targets low-carbon

Reflecting on Scotland's world-leading work in areas such as renewable energy and Scotland's world leading Climate Change Act, the updated Strategy sets a new Strategic Priority - Transition to a Low Carbon Economy
Scottish Government

The Scottish Government - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Published for 2009 - Figures showed a drop in greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland from 54.8 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt C02e) in 2008, to 51.0 Mt C02e in 2009. Sustainable Scotland Network


The Scottish Government - Updated version of its Economic Strategy which is intended to provide direction to the public sector, establishes a new Strategic Priority - Transition to a Low Carbon Economy - in addition to the five Strategic Priorities that were set out in 2007.  Sustainable Scotland Network

Eight Bio-based Technologies for 2050

Interesting outlook on future technologies including:
1. Waste capture
2. Breakthrough in carbon fixation and solar efficiency
3. Development of symbiotic communities of enhanced organisms
4. Off-the-shelf parts inventory in synthetic biology
5. Shift from freshwater to saline water
6. Rooftop bio systems
7. Super-light, super-strong materials
8. Bio-processors built into biomass

Renewable Energy World