The Great Debate UK
Government must act on bold promises to UK manufacturers
- Steve Radley is Director of Policy at EEF, Britain’s manufacturers’ organisation. The views expressed are his own.
This week the index of manufacturing activity in the UK moved into growth territory for the first time in more than a year. While that does not necessarily mean that the recession is over, it does suggest that we should be thinking a bit more about what sort of recovery we are likely to see and how well placed the UK is to meet it.
A common assumption is that a UK recovery will be export-led, taking advantage of a cheaper pound and the large stimulus packages which are likely to lift overseas markets such as China and United States out of the global recession faster than in this country. Looking longer-term, shared global challenges such as security, ageing populations and slowing climate change and adapting to it will create major opportunities for UK companies, particularly in manufacturing.
This raises questions as to how well equipped we are to take advantage of these opportunities. On the positive side, UK manufacturing has become much competitive in recent years with productivity gains outstripping most of our major competitors. A greater focus on innovation, design, niche products and service offerings has helped UK firms shift away from competing on price terns with lower wage cost countries. At the same time, though, we have been slow to take advantage of growth opportunities. Other European countries have made faster inroads into rapidly expanding Asian markets, while nations such as Germany, Denmark and Spain have stolen a march on us in the onshore wind industry, despite the substantial advantages our physical geography provides us.
from UK News:
‘Green’ expert sees red over UK climate pledges
Professor Sir David King, the British government's former top scientific adviser, is no stranger to controversy.
He ruffled feathers on both sides of the Atlantic in 2004 when he described climate change as a more serious threat to the world than terrorism.
from The Great Debate:
A new vision for the Summit of the Americas
-- Jeffrey W. Rubin is professor of history and a research associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he directs the Enduring Reform Project. Emma Sokoloff-Rubin is a Yale undergraduate and an associate editor of The Yale Globalist. The views expressed are their own. --
As leaders of the world's 20 largest economies debated stimulus packages and financial regulation at the G20 in London in early April, policemen kept at bay protesters' calls for attention to inequality, hunger, climate change, and human rights. The leaders talked economic shop as the protesters demanded new visions -- and the disconnect did not offer much hope for addressing the ravages of crisis worldwide.
from The Great Debate:
Democratic divisions stall U.S. cap-and-trade
Prospects for enacting a cap-and-trade program regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions later this year have receded following a vote in the Senate exposing deep divisions within the Democratic Party.
On April 1, 26 Democratic senators broke with the majority of their colleagues and both the party's Senate leaders to join all 41 Republicans voting for an amendment to the annual budget resolution forbidding use of the budget reconciliation process to pass climate change legislation involving a cap-and-trade system.
from The Great Debate:
First the stock market, now water
-- Jonas Minton is Water Policy Advisor for the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental advocacy organization. Previously he was deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources. The views expressed are his own. --
In many ways, water policy in the Western United States mirrors the economic policies which created our financial catastrophe. Here in the West we’ve seen a massive development boom fueled by unrealistic expectations of ever-increasing supply.
from The Great Debate:
U.S. cap-and-trade choice inferior to carbon tax
-- John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own --
President Barack Obama's first budget puts climate change at the heart of the administration's long-term economic plan. But despite the clear theoretical advantages of a simple carbon tax, he seems set to follow the EU and California in opting for a cap-and-trade system.
The budget plan commits the administration to work with Congress on an economy-wide emissions reductions program, based around cap-and-trade.
from The Great Debate:
Clean energy investment needs greener light
-- Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --
Investors in clean energy are like motorists stuck at broken traffic lights. The public policy light is green but the price and credit lights are deep red.
Investment in wind, wave and solar power should be booming after the European Union last year adopted an ambitious goal to draw 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 to help fight global warming, and U.S. President Barack Obama made green power a central plank of his government's policy.
from The Great Debate:
First 100 Days: Obama’s first climate change target
-- Mary D. Nichols is Chairman of the California Air Resources Board, the lead agency for implementing California’s landmark climate change law, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The views expressed are her own. --
After eight years of inaction on climate change by the federal government, we can now look forward to the Obama administration tackling global warming head on. With not a minute to lose, Lisa Jackson, the soon-to-be new head of the EPA, should move quickly to capitalize on the momentum of states that have so far been the leaders in fighting global warming. There is no better place to start than by establishing a national greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles based on California’s landmark clean car law.
from UK News:
Decision time at Heathrow
The government has approved the third Heathrow runway, in the interests of jobs and British competitiveness.
The third runway -- something airport operator BAA pledged it would not seek if it was granted permission to build Terminal 5 -- will open up a sharp political divide, with several Labour MPs, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats opposed to the idea.
from The Great Debate:
Obama spurs EU on climate, economy
-- Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --
He wasn't present and he isn't even in office yet, but Barack Obama was the elephant in the room at last week's European Union summit on economic recovery and climate change.
The 27 EU leaders knew they needed strong agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and give their recession-hit economies a big fiscal stimulus to make themselves credible partners for the U.S. president-elect.
