Climate change: citizen's agenda

The RSC has responded to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee "climate change: citizen's agenda. The key points of the RSC response are summarised below:

A combination of energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies will need to be employed in order to reduce the UK carbon emissions.

The chemical sciences will play a critical role in the development of technologies that will reduce carbon emissions from domestic living, especially those that reducing heat loss in the home, efficient lighting and efficient transportation options.

Citizens can contribute to reducing UK carbons emission through their use of technologies and lifestyle changes that affect the home and personal transport choices.  

Government must put in place a framework of incentives, regulation, education and demonstration and all of these must be at an appropriate level to inspire action.  Ideally there should be cross-party consensus on this framework.

Government must be prepared to lead by example and demonstrate energy efficiency measures and technologies in Government buildings and in the vehicle fleet.  Such demonstrations will be invaluable in educating citizens about the viability and economics of energy efficient measures and technologies.

Learned bodies such as the RSC have a key role to play in providing expert, unbiased advice on technologies and measures to reduce carbon emissions to Government and other key stakeholders.  There is also an important role in educating organisation members and the general public about the science behind climate change and the measures required to mitigate it.