Recent events in the UK
May 2011 - Brussels
Brian Davey & Laurence Matthews met officials from the Climate Action Directorate-General of the European Commission at their offices in Brussels on 12 May 2011.
Attending the meeting were Mrs Yvon Slingenberg, Head of Unit B1 (Implementation of the EU ETS); Johannes Enzmann, who kindly arranged the meeting, also of Directorate B (which addresses Carbon Markets); Jan Nill from Directorate A (Strategy) and Eduardas Kazakevicius representing Directorate C (Adaptation & Low-Carbon Technology).
We wanted to explore future possibilities for extending the EU ETS using upstream approaches (see the 'Hybrids' section in the 'Other schemes' page of this website) and to outline some of the principles behind C&S, in particular with regard to the political counterweight it might give to corporate lobbying.
The meeting was a useful exploration of issues surrounding implementation of policies at the EU level, their negotiation and agreement beforehand, and the relations between the EU and member states.
October 2010 - Bristol
A major report, Zero Carbon Britain 2030 produced by CAT, the Centre for Alternative Technology, features Cap & Share prominently, alongside TEQs, as possible methods to implement proposals to reduce the net carbon emissions of the UK to zero by 2030. (See the 'June 2010' item below).
The report formed the main topic of discussion at the 2010 annual conference of the Schumacher Society, held in Bristol on 16 October 2010. More details of the conference can be found here.
October 2010 - Oxford
A special issue of the scientific journal Climate Policy, edited by Yael Parag and Tina Fawcett of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, is devoted to Personal Carbon Trading. It contains a short paper 'Upstream, Downstream' by Laurence Matthews comparing PCT with C&S and in particular commenting on the psychological 'framing' of the two approaches. More details on Amazon here.
June 2010 - Machynlleth, Wales
A major report, Zero Carbon Britain 2030 produced by CAT, the Centre for Alternative Technology, features Cap & Share prominently, alongside TEQs, as possible methods to implement proposals to reduce the net carbon emissions of the UK to zero by 2030. You can download the report from the ZCB website here.
March 2010 - Swindon
Cap & Share features in the book Countdown, written by Michael Thomas. The book looks at a global response to global warming, peak oil and the resulting economic crisis, advocating a new approach called 'philonomics'. The book also features the work of FIOH, the 'Future In Our Hands' network. You can order or browse the book here.
February 2010 - Scotland
Members of the UK Cap & Share team joined with the Feasta climate group's annual meeting, held this year at Findhorn near Inverness on February 26-28 2010.
December 2009 - London
Brian Davey, Mike Thomas & Laurence Matthews met Joan Ruddock (Minister in Defra with responsibility for climate change) and three staff from DECC (the Deprtment for Energy & Climate Change) at the House of Commons on 7 December 2009. We were glad to have the opportunity to put forward the case for Cap & Share, and the Minister said she would be considering the idea.
December 2009 - London
The 'Stop Climate Chaos' coalition organised a massive demonstration called 'The Wave' in London on 5 December 2009, the weekend before the Copenhagen talks opened. Some 50,000 people marched through London to Westminster, encircling the Houses of Parliament.
Cap & Share UK, as part of this coalition, took part. Sharp-eyed viewers of CNN, and of Channel 4 News in the UK, will have seen the 'Cap & Share' placards among a host of others.
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A small number of SCC representatives met afterwards with the Prime Minister, and two delegates from C&S UK joined the Q&A session with Ed Milliband (UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change).
For more, see the SCC website here.
November 2009 - Winchester conference
Cap & Share was joint sponsor of a 2-day conference on 'The transition to low carbon: policy frameworks and community action', held in The Discovery Centre, Winchester on 20 and 21 November 2009.
The workshop examined policy and independent local initiatives, ahead of vitally important international negotiations at the Copenhagen UN Conference of the Parties in December.
Speakers included - on Day 1 -
Richard Douthwaite (Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability),
Sam Fankhauser (London School of Economics and Committee on Climate Change),
Alan Simpson MP,
Colin Challen MP,
Simon Roberts (Arup, Foresight Group),
Graham Tubb (South East England Development Agency),
David Fleming (The LEan Economy Connection),
Brian Davey (Cap and Share UK),
Peter Lipman (Sustrans, and Chair of Trustees of the Transition Network)
- and on Day2 -
Peter Harper (Centre for Alternative Technology),
Richard Douthwaite (Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability),
Patrick Andrews (RiverSimple),
Steve Clare (Development Trusts Association),
Anna Hope (Ecomotive),
Sue Riddlestone (BioRegional),
Jerome Baddeley (Nottingham Energy Partnership),
Adam Twine (Westmill Co-operative),
Robin Murray (The Young Foundation)
The meeting was organised by Cap and Share UK, the University of Southampton & Winchester Action on Climate Change, and the text of the talks etc. is now available on the the Transition Southampton website here.
September 2009 - Edinburgh: Holyrood 350 campaign in Scotland
Brian Davey presented 'Cap and Share' as part of the Holyrood 350 event at the Scottish parliament, attended by a dozen MSP's including one of the Ministers. The Holyrood 350 group was seeking the implementation of a 4-point policy framework that can work with the grain of community action.
Other speakers were Tim Helweg-Larsen from the Public Interest Research Centre in Machynlleth, Wales; Duncan McLaren, of Friends of the Earth Scotland; Shaun Chamberlin, author of Transition Timeline; and several speakers relating success stories of community action in Scotland, from community-owned renewables and living within limits on the Isle of Eigg, local food initiatives and the Fife Diet, Transition Town initiatives and a range of inner-city relocalisation initiatives.
A full account of the day is here. For more, see the Holyrood 350 website.
August 2009 - Oxford: Cap & Share at the English Speaking Union
Laurence Matthews gave a talk to the English Speaking Union's annual International Relations Conference in Oxford. The ESU is an organisation devoted to the spread of international understanding through the use of the English language, and is holding a series of climate-related events through the Autumn of 2009.
The ESU website is here.
July 2009 - London: SDC showcases Cap & Share
The Sustainable Development Commissions showcased Cap & Share as one of its 19 'Breakthrough Ideas for the 21st Century' at an event in London on 1 July 2009. Nick Bardsley, Milena Büchs, Brian Davey and David Thorpe attended for Cap & Share, addressing the conference and manning a display stand, which included to opportunity to explain C&S to HRH the Prince of Wales.
The SDC Press Release in the Press section of this website gives more details. The report Breakthroughs for the 21st Century is available to download from the SDC's website or from the Resources section of this website.
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June 2009 - C&S talk to the Green Party in Germany
Milena Büchs of Cap & Share UK gave a presentation on Cap & Share to the Federal Working Group on Economic and Financial Affairs of the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in Germany. Overall, they seemed to be sympathetic to the idea and there was a lively and intense discussion.
December 2008 - Poznan
Brian Davey and other members of Feasta attended the meeting in Poznan, Poland - the final ‘big’ international meeting prior to the meeting in December 2009 in Copenhagen, where politicians will meet to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Read their blog entries here.
November 2008 - PCT Conference in Oxford
Laurence Matthews from C&S UK represented C&S at a research workshop on Personal Carbon Trading, organised by the UK ERC, 27-28 November 2008.
October 2008 - C&S at the Green Fair, Llanidloes, Wales
Alison and Laurence Matthews performed their two-person role-playing presentation of Cap & Share, previously seen at the Hay Festival of Literature at Hay-on-Wye in May.
July 2008 - PCT / C&S debate in Nottingham
Laurence Matthews from C&S UK debated C&S and TEQs with David Fleming of the Lean Economy Connection. David Fleming is the originator of TEQs. You can hear an audio file of the debate and see the accompanying Powerpoint slides here.
June 2008 - C&S at the International Climate Forum in London
Cap & Share was represented at the ICF in London when Laurence Matthews from C&S UK shared a platform with Aubrey Meyer of the Global Commons Institute, inventor and promoter of "Contraction & Convergence". C&S can work with C&C.
May 2008 - EAC report published
The Environmental Audit Committee (a Select Committee of the UK House of Commons) has recently published a report on its Inquiry into Personal Carbon Trading. Cap & Share gets prominent mention. The C&S submission was reprinted in full as an appendix to the report.
The EAC report comes hot on the heels of an announcement from Defra (the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) of its own studies into personal carbon trading. Defra commissioned various studies into public attitudes etc., from which it concluded that PCAs are expensive and complicated, and that the public is not ready. Defra announced that it is going to shelve further work into PCAs for the time being.
The EAC report, however, comes out strongly in favour of Personal Carbon Trading, and PCAs in particular, and urges the UK government to rethink.
The EAC report is here and links to the Defra studies are here.
The EAC report argues strongly for tackling carbon emissions, and sees tackling personal emissions as necessary to this. In looking at how actually to do this, it surveys PCAs, C&S, carbon taxes and an upstream system (auctioning permits; this upstream scheme is referred to as a ‘hybrid’ because it accepts the current EU ETS and works alongside it, although C&S could do exactly the same). Of these it prefers PCAs.
The report calls for a much stronger leadership role from government, and also proposes more research into "how it could be made publicly and politically acceptable" plus more research on energy profiling, extent of possible fuel poverty etc.