Activist Says Resolution Contradicts Paris Agreement From 0-2050
First on August 25, 2020 at 11. 28 CEST
An environmentalist is legally challenging the government’s resolve to exclude waste incinerators from its post-Brexit carbon trading scheme designed to take the UK to zero emissions until 2050.
Georgia Elliott-Smith, a sustainability representative fighting the Edmonton incinerator, is calling for a judicial review of the omission of what legal documents call “astonishing” CO2 emissions from waste incinerators.
Elliott-Smith’s lawyers argue in a letter to the government that not adding millions of tons of carbon emissions from waste incinerators is illegal, and say that by introducing their new carbon trading formula, the first since the UK left the EU, ministers did not. the requirement of the Paris agreement to reduce emissions as temporarily as possible.
They draw parallels with the victory of Earth’s friends, who effectively argued that the government’s resolve to allow the expansion of Heathrow Airport is illegal because it ignored the Paris agreement.
Elliott-Smith, who budgets crowdfunding to pay lawyers’ fees, said: “I’m tired of seeing contaminants fill my children’s lungs, suffocating those living in the country’s poorest and highest commercial spaces.
“I’m tired of incinerators pretending to be environmentally friendly while releasing greenhouse gases that destroy the planet. “
The letter of action from Leigh Day’s lawyers sent to commercial secretary Alok Sharma cites figures from the government itself and the UK’s cross-organisation without an incineration network, which estimates that the 48 waste incinerators that operated in 2019 were guilty of 6. 6 million. tons CO2 emissions from fossil fuel sources.
“It’s the same as all the Birmingham and Manchester exhibits put together,” Elliott-Smith said. “Worse, 17 other incinerators are structured and dozens more are applying for structure permits. “
While operators of power plants and landfills have to pay a tax to inspire them to pollute pollution, incinerator operators do not have to pay taxes on waste disposal or their CO2 emissions.
This month he revealed that incinerators are 3 times more likely to be located in disadvantaged areas, where more people from ethnic minorities live than in rich, predominantly white areas.
Elliott-Smith said he will take legal action after spending a year campaigning for MPs, incinerator operators and local councils to put in place better tactics to deal with you.
“They’re just listening,” she says. As an environmental engineer, I know there are cleaner, greener tactics to reduce, reuse, and recycle fabrics that make a society fairer for everyone. “
The amount of waste collected through local government in England and then incinerated has increased from 12. 1% of waste in 2008-9 to 43. 8% in 2018-19. Eliott-Smith argues that this is because government policies make waste burning less expensive.
She said: “Brexit means the UK government is rewriting environmental policies, but incineration is excluded from the UK’s new emissions trading scheme, a way to manage and decrease CO2. Ignoring cremation, just because it’s less expensive, will be deastrous. “
Elliott-Smith’s lawyers argue that the government has failed to address the urgent need for “as soon as possible” emissions, as required by the Paris agreement, in particular the dangers and effects of climate change, rather than achieving zero net emissions until 2050. .
The letter notes that the consequences of this non-compliance are serious in relation to the resolution to exclude municipal waste incinerators from the new emissions trading scheme.
“This will mean that massive volumes of emissions will be ignored through the programme and that there will be no mechanism to account for, compensate or inspire discounts on incinerator emissions. The magnitude of these emissions from ignored incinerators is staggering,” said a spokesman for Leigh Day.
“Fossil fuel emissions are vital because they are emissions that would not be emitted through another waste disposal bureaucracy: plastic waste stored in landfills does not decompose and emit greenhouse fuel emissions for an incredibly long time, while recycling promises carbon stored in fossil resources is not emitted in the short to medium term. “
A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “It is appropriate to comment on the details of possible legal challenges. “