Zac Goldsmith Q&A

JessM

Just how heartbroken are you Zac about the environmental record of this government? Green Deal still subsidised and not yet even toddling a few baby steps on its own. ECO funding (for energy efficiency help to poorer homes) cut. Windfarm projects being scuppered.
Didn't get off to a roaring start did it with the cuts in feed-in tariff for photovoltaics. (No wonder the solar panel factory in Cardiff is going to become a film studio.)
Meanwhile the scientific predictions about more extreme weather events seem to be coming true - but you won't be surprised I'm sure.
Are you going to continue to battle on and try to change intransigent Tory hearts and minds or are you going to jump ship and join the Green Party?

I am forever trying to hold my Party to account on green issues, and I’m sure I always will, for as long as I am an MP. However I don’t take quite as dim view as you do. We set up a Green Investment Bank, as promised, as well as a Green Deal for energy efficiency, and a Renewable Heat Incentive for sustainable heat. We allocated £1billion for low emission cars, and much more. The share of the country’s renewables has nearly doubled in the past twelve months, and we have attracted £31billion of investment in renewables since the election, creating 35,000 jobs. We’ve also delivered genuine reforms to the appalling Common Fisheries Policy. All of these things can be greatly improved, but it’s a good start, and better by far than previous Governments. Our weakness has been in other areas. For instance we have been too slow to deliver the promised network of marine protected areas around our coast, our planning reforms represent a threat to green spaces, in my view, and the recent dismissive language used by some senior people in the Party in relation to green policies has been idiotic.

durhamjen

Why are you a Tory MP? You seem too sensible to me.

A true conservative believes in localism, democracy, conservation of our resources, stewardship of the natural world, looking out for future generations, balance of power (not domination either by big business or big government) and so on. These are conservative principles, and what can be more sensible? Part of my job is to remind my Party of that.

Mamie

Given the consensus about climate change in the scientific community, it seems that the climate sceptics still command an extraordinary amount of media time and attention. What can you (and the rest of us) do to change this?

Few things are black and white in science, but even so, we do have a near-consensus on climate change. There’s plenty of legitimate debate about the extent of the risk, and no one can predict with any real certainty where things are heading: there isn’t a computer model anywhere that can truly take into account the full complexity of the natural world. But very few scientists discount the risk altogether, and for policy makers to do so would be mad. After all, if we are wrong about climate change and still pursue policies to deal with it, we will end up with lower bills, cleaner air, healthy forests and a cleaner, more efficient economy. It’s not a bad downside. If we’re right and do nothing, then we are stuffed.

moleswife

This week we heard how the UK is likely to be fined by the EU for failure to cut excessive levels of NO2 - it is clearly a failure of governments and local authorities to address the serious problems of traffic in our cities: nitrogen dioxide is largely caused by the diesel emissions of cars and buses yet the Mayor of London is blindly refusing to accept that the health of vulnerable people is at risk; his plans for a Silvertown Tunnel would be the final straw in east London - what are your views on this proposal? And how would you address the issues of NO2 pollution and the impending EU fines?

If you consider that 4,000 people died as a result of the Great Smog of London in 1952, which led to the Clean Air Act, similar numbers of deaths reportedly from air pollution in London in 2008 should trigger a similar response. This issue needs to move much higher up the agenda. That means raising vehicle standards, helping local authorities cut traffic pollution, and introducing an explicit prohibition in the Planning system of a 3rd runway at Heathrow, the existence of which would make compliance with NO2 limits impossible.

Stansgran

Is there any point to recycling? I'm a dyed in the wool recycler but I see the younger generation dropping bottles and tins as though they've never heard of it. I'm not condemning all the young but I live between two schools and see the debris.

We generate enough waste every two hours to fill the Albert Hall. At a time where pressure on the world’s resources has never been greater, we have to find a way to be more efficient. The priority is reducing the waste we generate, and that means making things that last, that can be repaired and eventually recycled. It means making waste into a financial liability so that companies naturally seek to minimise it. Landfill tax has had the effect, here, and we can learn from other countries as well. Japanese goods are far more likely to be recycled, Austria has put a big emphasis on repairs, and so on.

I also think the retailers need to deal with packaging. The Austrian Women’s Institute once organised a day of action where members discarded unnecessary packaging at the supermarket counter. Maybe we could take a leaf out of their book.