Post by wirewiper on Sept 10, 2020 16:51:16 GMT
A group of 108 people, selected to be representative of the British public, has come up with some radical ideas - including for transport - than are being offered by mainstream politics.
The Climate Assembly was set up by a group of committees in Parliament and tasked the Assembly with learning about climate change, then come up with suggestions on how it should be tackled. The Assembly met for a total of 60 hours over six weekends, and the Assembly's report ran to 556 pages (it is illustrated).
Here are some of the progressive transport policies that the Assembly came up with.
Free bus travel
This referenced the decision to make bus travel in Dunkerque, France, free to all in 2018 (including a route that runs into Belgium - international travel for nothing!). This increased bus use by 85% and around half the new bus users would previously have travelled by car.
In its 2019 manifesto Labour proposed that councils should be able to take over bus services, and that council-run bus services could be supported to offer free travel to anyone under 25.
Nationalise public transport
This was supported by 75% of the Assembly members, echoing public opinion polls which show substantial support for renationalising the railways from supporters of all political parties.
Tax frequent flyers
This was supported by 80% of the Assembly members. Air travel accounts for 7% of the UK's carbon emissions, and 15% of the UK population takes 77% of the flights. The current system is a flat tax on all air travel.
The Assembly also proposed: Government subsidies to help people make their homes more eco-friendly; paying farmers to plant trees and restore peatland; tax environmentally-damaging products (80% support with 70% saying advertising should also be banned); invest in wind and solar power (95% support for offshore wind farms); plant forests (unanimous support - UK is currently one of most deforested countries in Europe); and make relationships between Government and fossil fuel company lobbyists more transparent (94% support).
More about the Climate Assembly from the BBC News website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54090352
The Climate Assembly was set up by a group of committees in Parliament and tasked the Assembly with learning about climate change, then come up with suggestions on how it should be tackled. The Assembly met for a total of 60 hours over six weekends, and the Assembly's report ran to 556 pages (it is illustrated).
Here are some of the progressive transport policies that the Assembly came up with.
Free bus travel
This referenced the decision to make bus travel in Dunkerque, France, free to all in 2018 (including a route that runs into Belgium - international travel for nothing!). This increased bus use by 85% and around half the new bus users would previously have travelled by car.
In its 2019 manifesto Labour proposed that councils should be able to take over bus services, and that council-run bus services could be supported to offer free travel to anyone under 25.
Nationalise public transport
This was supported by 75% of the Assembly members, echoing public opinion polls which show substantial support for renationalising the railways from supporters of all political parties.
Tax frequent flyers
This was supported by 80% of the Assembly members. Air travel accounts for 7% of the UK's carbon emissions, and 15% of the UK population takes 77% of the flights. The current system is a flat tax on all air travel.
The Assembly also proposed: Government subsidies to help people make their homes more eco-friendly; paying farmers to plant trees and restore peatland; tax environmentally-damaging products (80% support with 70% saying advertising should also be banned); invest in wind and solar power (95% support for offshore wind farms); plant forests (unanimous support - UK is currently one of most deforested countries in Europe); and make relationships between Government and fossil fuel company lobbyists more transparent (94% support).
More about the Climate Assembly from the BBC News website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54090352