The GMB isn’t saying that the money shouldn’t be spent, it is merely questioning whether targeting household energy bills is the right approach. The union is suggesting that general taxation might be a fairer way of sourcing the funds for decarbonisation to 2030. For this reason, the GMB, the union for workers in the energy sector, is calling on the UK government to commit itself to complete transparency, efficacy, value for money and equity on all of the costs associated with decarbonising the economy and to commission a review of the cost effectiveness and fairness of the policies being pursued, including whether these cost should be paid for from general taxation rather than levies on consumer bills.
The union’s call for transparency came after GMB researchers were unable to establish the full costs arising from the implementation of the Climate Change Act 2008. However, the GMB was able to establish that if the £6.76 billion cost identified in 2015 by the Committee on Climate Change, an independent statutory body, was to recur until 2030, then the total cost would be £123.6 billion.
The GMB has been unable to put figures to the other items which will increase the overall cost, including carbon taxes, emissions permits, capacity auction costs, renewable levies or any indirect costs associated with decarbonising the economy. For this reason, the union suggests that the figure is likely to be much higher than the £123.6 billion identified.
“Every single household in Britain has an energy bill to pay and for very many people it already represents a significant part of their monthly spend” said Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary for the Energy Sector. “Loading the costs of decarbonising the economy onto individual bill payers is highly regressive and will hit those who can least afford it the hardest; we are talking thousands of pounds extra on the bills of every house in Britain over the coming decade and a half.”
Mr Bowden added that given the eye-watering amounts of cash involved, UK energy bill payers have a right to demand complete transparency over all aspects of the decarbonising costs arising out of the 2008 Climate Change Act. It must also be established whether or not the costs represent value for money, efficacy and - above all - if they are going to rack up even further as seems likely. It may well be that when the full costs of decarbonising the economy are laid bare, paying for them out of general taxation is actually the fairer way to proceed.
According to studies byDARA, Climate Vulnerable Forum, 400,000 deaths are caused by climate change related incidents every year. This in turn wipes 1.6 percent from global GDP, but within 16 years the full cost to the global economy is expected to reach 3.2 percent. In 2013, the cost to the global economy reached $1.3 trillion. In the UK, the cost to the insurance sector alone of climate change related incidents reached more than £9 billion over the six years preceding the release of a report on the subject by AXA Insurance.
Image: GMB trade union (Nick Efford, Flickr)
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