http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Chris Huhne MP en-GB Chris Huhne MP http://chrishuhne.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Chris Huhne MP 2008-10-16T07:48+01:00 United Kingdom http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000073/taking_back_the_initiative.html The private finance initiative (PFI) began as a simple idea. Bring in the private sector to build and operate projects and to take risks that would no longer be shouldered by the public sector, and particularly the exchequer. 2007-11-28T00:00+00:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000072/abolishing_the_car_and_other_tall_tales_from_the_ecofuture.html Not surprisingly, the tabloid press picked up the transport part of our climate change paper when we launched it at the end of August. No-one can accuse us of pulling our punches - the climate change plans are radical, and are also the first truly comprehensive programme from any political party - but the media line of attack was bizarre. The Lib Dems plan to abolish the petrol engine and hence the car! What we propose is in fact that the EU's gradual decline in average emissions should not just extend to 2020, but that we should provide the certainty that carmakers crave by pushing it out to 2040. By that time, the EU should ban the sale of new carbon-emitting vehicles. 2007-09-15T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000070/defending_the_indefensible.html One of my few claims to fame is that I was one of - perhaps even the first - City analyst ever to confess publicly to error. I was running the sovereign risk side of what is now Fitch ratings during the Asian crisis of 1997, and it seemed sensible at the time. For a start, it was such a contrast with the pretended omniscience of most analysts that it was bound to get some media attention (and it did). And I reckoned we might get some credit for an honest post mortem that would help rebuild confidence in our work. We highlighted the key role of short term debt and illiquidity. 2007-09-14T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000071/what_are_the_lib_dems_for.html As the Liberal Democrats gather in Brighton, the usual media hue and cry will go up: what on earth are the Liberal Democrats for? Do they have a strategy or even a message? Even worse, are they being squeezed by the sudden chase to the centre ground by Labour and the Conservatives? What is left that is distinctively Liberal Democrat? 2007-09-13T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000067/can_we_save_the_carbon_markets.html For most business people beginning to put climate change on the corporate agenda, a key issue is whether there is going to be a strong, consistent and positive carbon price. If carbon emissions become a business cost that hits the bottom line, then carbon-saving technologies will be huge. There is, though a rising swell of criticism among environmentalists about whether the carbon markets can or will deliver. The World Wildlife Fund's report this week is one of many. 2007-06-14T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000069/warm_words_wont_save_us.html The G8 summit that gets under way today could be a key step towards a global agreement on climate change, and steer the 25 countries responsible for 80% of carbon emissions on a course to a new treaty to replace Kyoto after 2012. 2007-06-06T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000066/blue_wont_be_green.html David Cameron's environmental rhetoric is not reflected in the actions of his party 2007-04-27T11:04+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000064/carbon_offsetting.html Carbon offsetting has progressed from minor environmental initiative to major international industry in an astonishingly small period of time. The growth in offsetting has mirrored the increasing awareness of climate change amongst the general public, and the difficulty of trying to be green while also existing in an economy run on carbon. Offsetting has become fashionable amongst the carbon conscious, but its usefulness as a weapon against climate change is questionable. Does offsetting merely allow polluters to carry on with a clear conscience, or does it genuinely take out of the atmosphere carbon that would otherwise be left in? 2007-04-10T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000065/the_new_politics_of_greenery.html Anyone worried about whether the current fashion for tackling climate change will continue should look at the big picture. In the last month alone, the European Union has committed itself to working within two years for a replacement treaty when Kyoto runs out in 2012 and to a range of ambitious targets. Outside Europe, government after government is seeking to prove its green credentials. 2007-04-05T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000063/wanted_a_tough_climate_change_bill.html The idea behind the climate change bill that will be announced today is simple: we need a framework to help us to sustain a decades-long march towards a carbon-free economy. Coal, oil and gas must be phased out, or the carbon they emit must be captured and stored safely underground, if global warming is to be halted. This will be a profound technological revolution akin to the shift from steam to petrol engines, or from gas to electric light. Yet this time, change must be driven by our survival as a species on this planet, not the desire to meet new consumer demands. 2007-03-12T00:00+00:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000061/going_for_greener_but_not_higher_taxes.html As Gordon Brown prepares his eleventh and possibly last budget, the real test is whether he goes green. So far, the Chancellor has a limited track record of measures to help us burn less gas, coal and oil. He has just piled taxes like the climate change levy onto businesses that do not vote, yet we need to pay as we burn, not pay as we earn. 2007-03-04T00:00+00:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000062/europes_car_industry_dinosaurs_or_dynamos.html The City can eat its heart out. If you want to see real clout in public lobbying, try an industry that can claim to employ directly and indirectly about 12 million people in the European Union. Look at the car makers in general and the big German car makers in particular. They have just played a blinder. 2007-02-08T00:00+00:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000060/liberal_democrats_say_nuclear_is_tried_and_failed.html Nuclear is a tried, tested and failed technology. New nuclear would be economically foolhardy, environmentally irresponsible, and pose long-term security questions that are impossible to address. 2006-12-08T08:40+00:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000058/when_going_green_go_for_the_real_thing.html The environment has long been the major area of policy where the Liberal Democrats have had a sustained lead in the polls over both Labour and the Conservatives. With the greening of David Cameron, some commentators expected that position to change. Curiously, though, the trust of the Liberal Democrats on green issues seems only to have increased. The latest ICM issues poll in April put the Liberal Democrats higher than ever before at 29 per cent. The pay-off for Cameron is merely to have swapped places with Labour in the green hierarchy. The Tories are now second with Labour brining up the rear. 2006-09-18T00:00+01:00 http://chrishuhne.org.uk/articles/000059/the_environment_is_central_to_the_debate_about_the_economy_energy_and_transport.html Some business critics of tackling climate change argue that any normal assessment of the costs and benefits puts the problem relatively far down the list. That type of analysis is excellent in assessing a new tube line or a school, where the project is unlikely to change the whole environment. By contrast, climate change has the capacity to destroy our civilisation. The threat of water shortages, crop failures, flooding and increasing diseases (such as malaria) make tackling climate change a necessary condition of prosperity, not an optional extra. 2006-09-18T00:00+01:00