In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies said slashing funding for energy-efficient homes would be a damaging ‘short-term fix’. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households
Rachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups.
In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills.
The Guardian revealed this week that Reeves is finalising a multibillion-pound energy support package that is likely to cut green levies paying for energy efficiency as she looks to save as much as £170 from the average bill.
In particular, the Treasury has been looking at cutting or getting rid of the energy company obligation (ECO), which pays to improve energy efficiency for low-income and vulnerable households.
In their letter, the dozens of organisations – from Age UK and Citizens Advice to Friends of the Earth – called for the Treasury to reconsider cuts to the ECO programme, saying it would “call into question the ability to meet both the UK’s fuel poverty and carbon budget targets”. They also warned that it was putting thousands of jobs at risk in the £20bn energy efficiency industry and supply chain.
People meeting during the Cop30 local leaders’ forum at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro . Photograph: Tita Barros/Reuters
Host uses Indigenous concepts and changes agenda to help delegates agree on ways to meet existing climate goals
…
From the very beginning, Brazil poured wide-ranging diplomatic effort into using the event to forge connections and foster climate networks, drawing on the Brazilian concept of the mutirão. Adapted from Indigenous practice, a mutirao “refers to a community coming together to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting one another”, said André Corrêa do Lago, the Cop30 president.
“By sharing this invaluable ancestral wisdom and social technology, the incoming Cop30 presidency invites the international community to join Brazil in a global mutirão against climate change, a global effort of cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.” (Writing to participants, he could not resist mentioning another of Brazil’s passions: “As the nation of football, Brazil believes we can win by virada. This means fighting back to turn the game around when defeat seems almost certain.”)
Dozens of senior diplomats, community leaders and statespeople from around the world were recruited to be Cop30 envoys and ambassadors; as were a “circle” of previous Cop presidents, including the UK’s Alok Sharma; a circle of finance ministers; a people’s circle for Indigenous communities; and special envoys for energy, agriculture and business.
“Brazil have put a lot of preparation into this Cop over two years,” says Nicholas Stern, an economics professor at the London School of Economics. “Whatever comes out will be more considered than a rush job would have been. They have taken very important steps [in bringing experts together].”
Some of the circles have already borne fruit; the finance ministers’ meeting facilitated introductions not only among countries, but in some cases between finance and environment ministers within the same government. “Some of them appeared not to have known each other before,” one participant observed.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wanted social issues high on the agenda, so his environment minister, Marina Silva, set up an initiative called the global ethical stocktake (GES), which will pursue climate justice. Bringing together Indigenous people – who have been promised a much bigger role in this summit than previous ones – and representatives for poor communities, vulnerable people, workers and marginalised groups, the GES aims to ensure fairness and equity are key considerations in any climate policy.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Exclusive: Research shows oil, gas and coal firms’ unprecedented access to Cop26-29, blocking urgent climate action
More than 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists were given access to the UN climate summits over the past four years, a period marked by a rise in catastrophic extreme weather, inadequate climate action and record oil and gas expansion, new research reveals.
Lobbyists representing the interests of the oil, gas and coal industries – which are mostly responsible for climate breakdown – have been allowed to participate in the annual climate negotiations where states are meant to come in good faith and commit to ambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The roughly 5,350 lobbyists mingling with world leaders and climate negotiators in recent years worked for at least 859 fossil fuel organizations including trade groups, foundations and 180 oil, gas and coal companies involved in every part of the supply chain from exploration and production to distribution and equipment, research shared exclusively with the Guardian has found.
…
The 30th UN climate summit (Cop30) opens on Monday in Belém, a city in the Brazilian Amazon – the world’s largest rainforest, which is being destroyed by ever-expanding fossil fuel exploitation, industrial agriculture and mining, among other extractive industries.
…
Growing anger at the lack of meaningful action by the world’s wealthiest, most polluting countries has been compounded by revelations that the fossil fuel industry appears to be granted greater access to the climate talks than most countries.
Last year, 1,773 registered fossil fuel lobbyists attended the summit in Azerbaijan – 70% more than the total number of delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined (1,033).
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
CORRIDOR care is a “crisis in plain sight” with elderly patients watching others die while themselves waiting to be helped for days on end, a leading charity warned today.
A patient gave a first-hand account likening hospital corridor care to war films with “queues of stretchers and people suffering” in a new report by Age UK.
The charity raised concerns that poor quality care “is now almost expected” in some A&E departments.
It warned the situation could get worse as the NHS heads into winter and urged ministers to produce a plan to end long A&E waits and corridor care, with specific deadlines and milestones.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Corridor care is a moral stain on our health service and this report is yet more evidence of its devastating consequences.
“The reality is nursing staff and patients are being set up to fail by a system that simply isn’t working.”
Then chairman of the John Lewis partnership Charlie Mayfield, October 6, 2015
Ex-John Lewis boss calls for action against Britain’s ‘sick note culture’ as unions fear proposals target disabled
UNIONS raised fears over disabled people facing benefit cuts for not taking so-called “personal responsibility” to return to work today.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said that it has “real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues” following the publication of a major review on how to keep people in work.
Other unions stressed that bosses should be doing more to keep people with disabilities in jobs and “not simply sending them to the dole queues as shirking their responsibilities.”
Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield’s report urged a reduced reliance on GP sick notes amid an “enormous” cost to employers from ill health among workers.
…
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “We all want to tackle workplace ill-health and there are some interesting proposals which now require wider consultation — not just with employers but vitally with trade unions representing workers, and those who claim benefits.
“We have real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues.
“Rising ill-health in the UK has coincided with lengthening NHS waiting lists, a worsening housing crisis and a rise in poverty. Tackling these issues will be essential to improving public health.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
