With the badger cull controversy, fracking, HS2, and the plan to sell off Britain’s woodlands, the coalition doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to pleasing environmentalists. And a new report seems to justify concerns that the self-proclaimed “greenest government ever” might actually leave some areas of the environment in a worse state than when they inherited them. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), a group of MPs charged with evaluating how government policies contribute towards environmental protection and sustainable development, released their damning evaluation of the government’s progress last week, focusing their report on 10 key environmental areas. These areas were assessed using a ‘traffic-light’ system, with green representing satisfactory progress, amber representing unsatisfactory progress, and red indicating deterioration since 2010 – the year the coalition came to power. Incredibly not a single environmental area assessed received a green rating, with three receiving a ‘red card’: air pollution, biodiversity and flood protection all received the worst evaluation. The other seven indicators including climate change, waste management, and the marine environment received an amber score.
Among the threats to the UK’s biodiversity, invasive species were noted as some of the most serious and one of the reasons for the decline in several important indicator species. Regarding air pollution, the EAC found that emissions of several airborne pollutants increased after 2013 having been in steady decline for a number of years prior to that. The winter storms this year highlighted the failings of Britain’s flood defences, both inland and in coastal areas. According to the report approximately 5.4 million properties are currently at risk of flooding.
Whilst the EAC noted that incomplete datasets could have affected some of the results, they were clear in their message that the government must commit to improve the situation if not in this parliament then the next. In addition the report noted several ‘policy levers’, ideas that would tackle the slow pace of progress in these areas. But with less than a year left until the general election, and that time certain to be filled with electorate-pleasing messages about the economy, the EU and unemployment, it seems unlikely that the incumbents will be doing much to change things around. Only time will tell to see if the next government will do any better.