Wales can ‘lead the way’ to a greener UK, says Jonathon Porritt

by Jonathan Evans - 18/11/2009

"A LEADING environmentalist believes Wales can lead the way in lowering Britain’s carbon footprint."

Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, delivered the message before giving a lecture at Cardiff University yesterday.

He was in the city to talk to students about what it means to live in a low carbon economy.

And he believes Wales is already working hard to make the UK a greener place.

Mr Porritt, who received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection, said: “I’ve been in Cardiff a lot over the past 10 years and I think the politicians in Wales have made better moves than those in London.

“There have been a lot of positives. Wales is taking the right direction and talking about building zero carbon houses by 2013.

“I think that’s the right ambition to have and is ahead of the rest of the UK which has a target of 2016.

“Wales is in a good position to lower its carbon output because it has access to a lot of positive features such as onshore and offshore winds.”

Mr Porritt believes the key to a low carbon economy is to invest more money and create more jobs.

And he also thinks we need to start thinking more positively about the future of the planet.

The environmentalist was talking ahead of a UN meeting in Copenhagen next month, where world leaders will meet to try to achieve a global agreement on climate change.

Mr Porritt added: “People are very gloomy about climate change and think that life will never be the same. I think we need to have a much more positive approach.

“I believe developing a low carbon economy can help the economy and create new jobs.

“A lot of our houses are low quality and inefficient, so we need to build new houses.

“We believe proper investment in this area can create tens of thousands of jobs and real prosperity. If we improve houses and transport systems people will start seeing change and start believing about a low carbon future.”

Mr Porritt also believes the world’s population needs to be looked at very carefully.

“We are looking at a world population of nine billion by 2050 and we have to talk about family planning if we want a low carbon world,” he said.

“The more people there are on the planet, the more greenhouse gases emitted.

“But the three main things we need are efficiency, renewables and smarter ways of using fossil fuels.

“We are way behind countries like Germany and Japan and it’s fundamental that we increase our effort, otherwise we’ll end up having to import from them and our economy will be weaker.”

More Details: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2009/11/17/wales-can-lead-the-way-to-a-greener-uk-says-jonathon-porritt-91466-25182707/