A POLICY setting out Jersey’s proposed route to carbon neutrality has been approved overwhelmingly by the States Assembly.
An initial four-year £23 million delivery plan aims to help the Island become carbon neutral by 2030 and in the longer term to align with global targets of being net-zero by 2050, as set out in the Paris Agreement treaty on climate change. As part of the carbon-neutral roadmap, incentives will be offered for the purchase of electric vehicles.
Being carbon neutral may come with a cost but the cost of inaction was far higher, States Members stressed in the Chamber yesterday.
‘We are approaching a tipping point,’ said Assistant Environment Minister Jess Perchard. ‘Doing nothing is not an option.’
Banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and small vans in 2030 and stopping the installation of new oil, gas and coal boilers from 2026 are some of the policies included in the roadmap, which was backed by 35 Members, with only Senator Sarah Ferguson voting against it.
Highlighting the importance of taking action on climate change now, Deputy Perchard said: ‘The urgency is today. Not tomorrow – today.’
There will be extra money for active travel, as a result of an amendment by Deputy Rob Ward, which called for £1.4 million from the proposed budget for electric-vehicle subsidies to put into walking and cycling initiatives.
The States Assembly declared a climate emergency in 2019, following a proposition by Deputy Ward, after which a citizens’ assembly on climate change was set up and made several recommendations.
Deputy Ward called yesterday’s proposition a ‘significant’ one, but raised concerns that the recommendations from the citizens’ assembly had been ‘watered down’.
He also criticised the focus on cost, adding that ‘the cost of inaction is enormous’.
Deputy Ward said Jersey should be a model for other small islands and larger jurisdictions, and go further than the Paris Agreement.
An independent scientific council will also be set up to oversee the changes, following an amendment from the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel. The council will make recommendations to keep Jersey on track and provide a report back to the States every four years.
An earlier attempt by Senator Ferguson to suspend Jersey’s journey towards net-zero until the war in Ukraine had been ‘resolved’ was heavily rejected by the States. Nato recently warned that the Ukraine conflict could last for years. Senator Ferguson argued that net-zero policies were having a ‘detrimental’ impact on lower-income families struggling with the cost of living, at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was causing significant rises in global energy prices.
Yesterday, Deputy Perchard committed to a ‘just transition’, which ‘should not detrimentally affect the most vulnerable members in our community’ or worsen income inequality.
Environment Minister John Young said: ‘What we have got here is really important, good start.’
There were mechanisms in the roadmap for future governments to accelerate changes, he added.
