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THE BRITISH government has ruled out the introduction of carbon taxes
or other new fiscal measures to combat global warming ‘in the next few years’.
This decision forms part of the government’s first ever environmental strategy,
which was unveiled in London by environment secretary Chris Patten this
week.

The 300-page document* is primarily an overview of existing commitments
and strategies (‘How green is our government?’, New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ, 8 September).
It reiterates the government’s previously announced stance that ‘unilateral
action by Britain would do little to influence global warming’.

But it also stresses that ‘tax and other measures directly raising the
relative price of energy outside the transport sector will not be introduced
in the next few years.’

For the immediate future, the White Paper makes it clear that measures
to promote increased energy efficiency – including a pledge to save 15 per
cent in the total energy bill of the government’s own property and buildings
– will be the cornerstone of its strategy to combat global warming.

Improved building standards, energy labelling and a specific interdepartmental
government committee on energy efficiency, chaired by energy secretary John
Wakeham, are promised. In addition, Britain is now committed to generating
1000 megawatts of renewable energy electricity by the year 2000, in addition
to twice that figure in the form of combined heat and power plants.

The White Paper reveals that the government wants industry to increase
its funding of joint R&D projects into renewable energy from 25 to 50
per cent to help meet an expanded development programme during the 1990s.
The government has promised to carry out a fundamental review of its own
renewable energy strategy during 1991.

The government has also begun to look at ways of introducing more market-based
approaches to controlling pollution. The White Paper indicates that incentive
charging, industry levies (perhaps on tyres to cover the cost of their disposal)
and tradeable permits are all under review.

Institutionally, Whitehall has ruled out at this stage combining the
regulatory activities of the Health and Safety Executive, Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Pollution and the National Rivers Authority. But it endorses
the idea of making HMIP more independent of the Department of the Environment.

Introducing the document, printed on recycled paper, on Tuesday, Patten
stressed it was ‘not our last word on the environment.’ He added that ‘it
will mean inconvenience for some and change for everyone’.

One immediate consequence for the government as a whole is a new commitment
that all departmental policies and plans will be subject to environmental
assessment. How this will be policed and achieved, though, remains the subject
of advice from consultants.

Although the White Paper contains no firm commitments to extra money
for environmental science, senior civil servants explained that the emphasis
in the document on the need for global research programmes, improved monitoring
and better statistics meant that more resources are expected to become available.
The details will have to wait for the outcome of the present round of government
negotiations over public expenditure.

*This Common Inheritance: Britain’s Environmental Strategy HMSO Pounds
sterling 24.50.