We’re in the middle of an amazing spell of Autumn weather – it’s great to have that feeling that we’re holding winter at bay – but I think it’s perhaps worth sparing a thought for the bigger picture. Jersey may not have had a great summer, but the planet was hotter than it has ever been through the summer months. July, August and September were all record breaking months – the hottest ever recorded in planetary terms – and in fact September wasn’t just a bit warmer than any other September, it was off the scale warmer than anything that’s gone before.
Put that together with other things like extraordinary sea temperature anomalies, and staggering reductions in sea ice in Antarctica and the scale of what is happening to the earth’s climate is breathtaking.
The planet doesn’t care, of course. It’s just doing it’s thing, responding to basic physics – more carbon in the atmosphere means more heat is trapped in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the problems are all ours. The disruption to the ecosystems on which food production depends, the natural cycles that deliver water and the trend towards increasing weather extremes – all these things threaten the underpinnings of our civilisation.
So we’re living in an era of climate instability and the flip side of a lovely, hot October weekend is increasing climate chaos. The only way to tackle it is if all of us – every country, every jurisdiction, every one of us as individuals – do our bit. I often hear it said that there’s not much point in Jersey doing anything, we’re too small to count, too insignificant. In the wake of the UK’s decision to water down some of its net zero commitments, those voices have if anything got a bit louder.
The idea that Jersey is “too small to count” is a fallacy of course. Anyone can say they don’t count, but the truth is we all count, all the same, wherever we are. Jersey is a community of 100,000 people, and our emissions matter just the same as any other community of 100,000 people. It’s easy to say “China is much bigger, they are the ones who need to get their act together”, but China is made up of many different communities, each of which could make the same argument: we don’t count, it’s up to others. Reducing emissions only works if everyone does their bit. It’s a bit like voting; one vote doesn’t appear to count for much, but in fact each vote counts the same; put them together and they add up to a big, collective decision.
It’s also the case that almost every action we take to cut our carbon emissions improves the quality of life in Jersey. Whether it’s reductions in pollution, improvements to health and wellbeing through more active travel, lowering bills through insulating homes – these are all improvements for the long term benefit of the island.
But in fact, there’s an even better reason why Jersey should stick to its guns on net zero. It’s a huge opportunity. A big part of our “brand” is that we are a beautiful island with a stunning natural environment and cultural heritage. Net zero adds another dimension to that image – of an island that is serious about its environmental commitments, showing how an environmental agenda can add to our quality of life. Being serious about driving down emissions will help bolster tourism and make Jersey an attractive place for young, creative people who want to embrace a future that is better for our planet. In the future, I hope that Jersey’s net zero future could also include an offshore wind farm which would enhance that image, with electricity exports helping displace carbon based energy production elsewhere in Europe, whilst securing our own energy security and locking in a long term, stable priced electricity supply.
The French St Brieuc wind farm, as seen from St Ouen’s Bay
We’ve made a start on our net zero journey with a long term carbon neutral roadmap and by introducing a range of measures that can help you reduce your carbon emissions. It’s only the beginning. Over the next year we’ll be working on the long term financing strategy for net zero (bearing in mind that an offshore wind farm would potentially provide an income source to help fund continuing net zero measures). But in the meantime, I have no intention of rowing back on our net zero commitments. Rather the opposite. I embrace them, I embrace a net zero future, and I embrace the opportunities that it will bring.
A longer version of the video that kicks off this post.
Jonathan Renouf 