Credit crunch could offer opportunities to help the environment, says Lord Turner

Published on Friday 6 February 2009 19:50

MORE than 700 people will listen to Lord Adair Turner talk about climate change when he visits Scotland to deliver a lecture next week.

The chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, set up to advise the UK government, will give a talk entitled Building a Low-Carbon Economy at Edinburgh University.

Speaking to The Scotsman ahead of his visit, Lord Turner said he believes the credit crunch will offer opportunities that could help the environment. One example, he said, was that measures brought in to improve energy efficiency in buildings could also help the ailing construction industry.

"There are challenges due to the recession but also some opportunities which we should try to seize," he said.

But he also said there were worries that during the economic slowdown, companies behind renewable projects such as wind farms might struggle to get schemes financed. He suggested the government might have to consider more "direct intervention".

"If the problem is that people can't get long-term loans with the downturn in credit supply then we have to look at whether there's anything the government can do to more directly support them," he said.

Lord Turner said that, despite its small size, Scotland had an important part to play in tackling climate change.

"It's one of those classic problems. Can any small thing make a difference? The difference is made by a cumulation of small things," he said. "I think it's admirable that Scotland has said, 'We want to play our role'.

"We recognise that Scotland's reductions as a whole are relatively small in the scheme of things, but it's important we have ways of committing people at all sorts of levels to driving down emissions."

Lord Turner's committee will also advise the Scottish Government on its Climate Change Bill, which is at present being debated in Holyrood. The bill sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 80 per cent by 2050, and will include emissions from international air travel and shipping from the start.

The free lecture, organised by Friends of the Earth Scotland, will take place at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh University at 6pm on Monday and is open for all to attend.

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said 750 people had registered an interest in Lord Turner's talk.

"We are delighted that there is so much interest in the subject and encourage people to come along," he said.