Climate March Scotland 2008

Saturday 6th December 2008Glasgow 

Assemble 12.30 The Amphitheatre, Clyde Street

March to Caledonian University 

More details at; www.scottishclimatemarch.info  

Public Ownership – Not Higher Prices 

Solidarity slams claims higher fuel bills necessary to pay for carbon reduction. 

As environmental and social justice protestors prepare to gather in Glasgow this weekend for the national demonstration against climate change, Solidarity have slammed claims made in Monday’s report from the government’s Commission on Climate Change that significant carbon emission reduction can only be achieved by massive real rises in the cost of gas and electricity.

“There is much to be welcomed in the commission report,” said Solidarity Assistant National Secretary, Steve Arnott. “Though the does not go far or fast enough and continues to make the mistake of considering nuclear energy to be a safe and affordable source of power, it does represent a significant step forward from previous inadequate government plans and targets. However, the suggestion that ordinary consumers should pay an even higher percentage of their income for their domestic energy bills, potentially putting another 1.7 million UK citizens into fuel poverty in order to meet carbon reduction targets, is nothing short of scandalous.” 

Solidarity point out that the energy utility companies – privatised energy companies all – have been stacking up record profits while piling on the misery for middle to low income individuals and families struggling to heat their homes this winter.

In the last five years the average gas bill for British Gas customers has risen by 76.7% to £653, and electricity bills have risen by 74.3%, to £413. This year British Gas / Centrica has seen a 40% rise in operating profits to £1.95bn, with prices rising 29.7% on average in the UK compared with 15% in the EU. 

 “The commission cannot see beyond price rises to facilitate the switch to renewable and carbon neutral methods of energy generation because it cannot move beyond the paradigm of trying to achieve the necessary carbon emission reductions within the constraints of capitalism,” continued Mr. Arnott.

“That paradigm is of carrot and stick regulatory measures and subsidies to private profit making companies with both a legal obligation and a natural inclination to prioritise profit for their shareholders.” 

“Private companies are expected to return dividends from investment over a short period of time, meaning that prices will rise to keep fat cat shareholders happy if private companies are forced to switch to renewable methods of energy generation.” 

“Solidarity on the other hand, calls for the taking into democratic public ownership all of the energy utilities, and the oil and gas companies, with the profits to be used to invest in the switch to renewables and to keep domestic fuel bills at affordable levels. Because publicly owned companies do not have to pay profit dividends to shareholders they can invest for both a social and economic return over a much longer period of time. Under a red/green paradigm of dealing with the energy switch, prices for essentials such as home heating and power need not rise. Indeed, they could be reduced in the longer term” 

At Saturday’s climate change demo Solidarity will be promoting its new pamphlet, The Bubble Bursts, authored by Steve Arnott, which deals with both the current world economic crisis and climate change, and calls for public ownership of the privatised energy utilities, as well as the energy exploration and extraction companies, to facilitate a strategic plan to combat climate change. 

Solidarity co-convenor Tommy Sheridan echoed the ideas behind the pamphlet saying: 

“We face two great crises at this time; the crisis of capitalism that is throwing millions into unemployment and homelessness across the globe and the crisis of climate change which threatens the world itself.  There can be no solution to either crisis on the basis of a system that puts short term profits for a few before the long term needs of the many.”  

You can purchase a copy of The Bubble Bursts by clicking on the icon to the right of this article.