Climate campaigner electric bikes to Brussels with radical plan
Picture Desks - notes here 
map and pics here
Itinerary Full list of places, times and dates here
Embargo: 00:01, Saturday 23 June
CLIMATE CAMPAIGNER ELECTRIC BIKES TO BRUSSELS WITH RADICAL PLAN
Cap, cut and share the carbon
How can Europe cut its greenhouse gas emissions? Dr Will Howard thinks he knows and he's taking a radical plan by electric bike 500 miles from West Wales to Brussels to present to the European Commission. He calls it Cap and Share.
He starts out on Tuesday 26 June from Machynlleth and arrives in Brussels on Monday 9 July to lobby the EU Commission and Parliament to reform the present Emissions Trading Scheme, starting with the transport sector. “That's why I'm going to Brussels the low carbon-way, for 50p’s worth of electricity, on a bike” he says.
Emissions from transport are rising faster than those from any other activity, so Will wants Europe to put tougher limits on how high they can go and to give permits for the tonnes of CO2 involved to every adult. “Who owns the sky?” he asks, “Who has the right to emit? People do, not big companies, so the right to emit should be shared equally by everyone. The science shows we need to cut by at least 80% by 2050, not the present EU target of 50%.”
“When we got our permits, which would be issued once a year, we'd sell them at a bank or post office, just as if they were a foreign currency. The permits would be sold on by the banks to every company importing or refining transport fuels in the EU. The companies would need to buy enough permits to cover the emissions from the fuel they sold.
Will is making the journey to Brussels using cycle ways and towpaths as well as roads. He'll be taking his 3G phone linked to his iBook computer to blog and stay in touch along the route. He’ll also be stopping to meet as many people as he can – and to recharge the bike!
PHOTOCALLS Will and the decked-out bike are available for photo calls along the way.
ITINERY Full list of places, times and dates here
MAP A press ready map of the route can be found here
PICS Press ready royalty free stock pictures of Will with the bike can be found here
NOTES FOR JOURNALISTS
Dr Will Howard short CV
Dr Will Howard is 55, trained as a soil ecologist and has also worked as a campaigner and multimedia producer. He is the voluntary coordinator of Cap and Share, a new campaign and framework for stabilising the climate. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales with his wife and two teenage sons.
A note on the folding electric bike
Folding and electric bike specialists "A to B magazine" have lent Will the prototype electric bike reviewed in their latest edition. The bike is based on the famous folding bike from innovative British company Brompton Bicycles who have also helped with the trip. The nano hub motor and Nickel Metal Hydride battery system was researched and fitted by Ego Personal Transport in Marlborough to make it a hybrid electric-pedal machine. The bike should make it the 500 miles to Brussels on 50p (around 5 units or kwhs) of electricity. It can cruise at 15 mph with a range of just under 50 miles with some pedal assist.
“Brompton’s and Ego Personal Transport are developing just the kind of forward looking technologies that Britain and Europe need to reduce and switch away from our dependence on carbon based energy. As schemes like Cap and Share push the carbon price up, more and more people will be encouraged to change to such better alternatives” says Will.
www.atob.org.uk - David Henshaw
www.bromptonbicycle.co.uk
The plan and roadmap Will is going to ask for in Brussels
The idea for the journey developed in response to what Will feels were the totally inadequate announcements made by world leaders at the recent G8 summit. Will's plan, which he calls Cap and Share, calls for
“This isn’t pie in the sky because it’s easy and manageable to do step by step,” says Will. “The economic principles have been carefully thought through as well as the political practicalities.”
What is cap and share (C&S)?
C&S is a regulatory and economic framework for climate stabilisation. It takes a human rights approach and proposes that the limited amount of greenhouse gases (ghgs) that can be emitted before the atmospheric concentration is stabilised should be shared equally between all adults. Each person would get an annual entitlement which they could sell.In short, it limits emissions, shares them out and uses price and market mechanisms to encourage changes in technology, lifestyles and economic processes at all levels.
Its fairness and built-in fiscal neutrality make it a popular and politically acceptable way to control emissions. It can also be introduced step-by-step to build up into a global scheme.
For A quick guide to cap and share see here
Backing from economic think tank Feasta
Will is backed by leading contemporary economist Richard Douthwaite of Feasta, a think tank concerned with sustainable economics that has been instrumental in developing the new plan.
Commenting on the plan Richard Douthwaite said “The cap and share approach can be implemented sector-by-sector, country-by-country and region-by-region until it builds up into a global system. We don’t need to wait for international agreements to be handed down from on high. We can start building a safer future right now. Transport emissions are out of control in Europe and unless 100% of them are brought into a trading scheme we may miss all our targets. The cap and share approach makes it politically acceptable to do so because it gives people their rights back and involves them from the start. Moreover the cap and share approach is the easiest, simplest and cheapest scheme on offer.”
Transport paper 1
Transport paper 2
Aviationand EU
www.feasta.org/energy.htm
Message of support from Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity
"We welcome and support Will's initiative. Transport is the fastest growing source of CO2 in the UK, and the EU has a mountain to climb to curb emissions generated by travel. Biofuels and other magic bullets are not the answer - setting legally binding caps and targets for CO2 reductions is key, as is enabling individuals to change their own travel behaviour. We wish him well in his endeavour."
Peter Lipman, Director Low Carbon Travel, Sustrans
www.sustrans.org.uk
Cap and Share is a member of the broad-based Stop Climate Chaos coalition
www.stopclimatechaos.org
ITINERARY
Tuesday 26 June
Machynlleth – 0600 > Llanidloes – 0900 > Rhayder – 1130 >
Builth Wells - 1300 > Hay on Wye - 1500
Wednesday 27 June
Hay on Wye – 0600 > Pontrilas – 0730 > Monmouth – 0930 >
Chepstow – 1130 > Bristol - 1500
Thursday 28 June
Bristol – 0700 > Bath – 0830 > Bradford-u-Avon – 1000 > Devizes – 1130 >
Hungerford – 1500 > Newbury - 1700
Friday 29 June
Newbury – 1000 > Reading – 1300 > Maidenhead - 1530
Saturday 30 June
Maidenhead – 0800 > Windsor – 0900 > Putney Bridge – 1230 > London - 1300
Sunday 1 July
London
Monday 2 July
London
Tuesday 3 July
London – 0800 > Greenwich – 0900 > Dartford – 1030 > Gravesend – 1200 >
Gillingham – 1330 > Faversham – 1530 > Canterbury - 1700
Wednesday 4 July
Canterbury – 1000 > Dover – 1200 > Ferry > Dunkirk
Thursday 5 July
Dunkirk > Brugge > Gent
Friday 6 July
Gent > Dendermonde > Geraardsbergen
Saturday 7 July
Geraardsbergen > Brussels
