Thread by @thermalimageguy

What are the policies that governments could introduce straight away, with minimal effort, inconvenience & cost that would have the biggest impact on emissions...? (and which countries have done so....?)

1. Proper checks on new building insulation (and air tightness).
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2. All new buildings to be to passivhaus standard
3. Set motorway maximum to 60mph (saving 9% fuel per RAC).
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4. Ban the sale of bottled water.
5. New buildings to use greywater rainwater for flushing etc. ( I seem to recall reading that ScottishWater was ScottishPowers biggest customer - pumping all that treated water around that was then flushed away!
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6. Plant trees - millions of trees.
7. Road pricing, use to subsidise buses. M8, M80, M74, M77, A720 etc. all gridlocked every day. If you could jump on a bus at your nearest motorway entry point, and get to your destination quicker, stress free - you’d take it?
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8. More cycle lanes, but built to full road standard.
9. ...

9. Increase airport departure tax to meaningful level.
10. Ban internal flights in the UK, and other countries /regions around the world where there is a rail alternative...
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11. Introduce direct trains from central Scotland to Paris and beyond. Switching travellers away from flying will be easier if there is a better/cheaper but still practical alternative...

12. Similarly, develop direct passenger ships from Glasgow, Liverpool & Southampton to New York & Miami. People still want to travel, but flying the way we do appears to have to stop. Lower emission ‘slow travel’ could bring pleasure back to travelling, and shrink emissions.
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13. Heavily tax (or just ban) fresh produce flown in from around the world. Pretty sure our local Sainsbury’s would survive without year round fresh asparagus from Peru, and cherries from Chile.
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You did this last year too @EsTresidder ? Look at that legroom on Eurostar. Too bad we had to come down last night and stay over in London first....

Hey @Eurostar #es9092 -can you run this service,or any of your Paris services direct from Glasgow/Edinburgh? Travelled down to London from Glasgow last night-but wld prefer direct from Scotland. As folks move away from shorthaul flights,demand will increase. #greattrains #legroom

@Eurostar Wow - one way New York to LA on Amtrak train is £215...really? - that’s 3 days on the train, but what a price..

rome2rio.com/tickets/New-Yo…

14. From @NoeLecocq - Ban advertising for activities and products that are most harmful to the environment.

@NoeLecocq 15. Set out a financial budget that targets economic contraction. Contract the economy, contract consumption - will result in reduced emissions.

@NoeLecocq 16. Re-set tax policy on energy consumption and energy efficiency services/products - the former is currently VAT rated at 5%, the latter at 20%. Switch this round.!

17. On motorway gantry signs, have them encourage car sharing "Reduce traffic go to Liftshare.com"

@Liftshare @MathesonMichael

18. Or for all the cars stuck on the M8 in the morning, a gantry sign saying "Next train to Edinburgh from West Calder in 15 minutes, take next exit" would surely get some traffic off the road ? #joineduppolicy @MathesonMichael I'm sure nobody likes an hour to drive 10 miles

@MathesonMichael 19. Incentivise employers to encourage staff to work from home one or two days a week. Happier staff, and up to 40% reduction in commuting emissions. There’s always a pile of tasks that could be set aside and allocated to ‘home days.’

20. Any new housing planning approvals must have regular public transport, and cycle lanes to nearby shops/schools etc as part of consent.

21. £10,000 grant to anyone setting up a local cycle repairs & spares shop in their local community.

22. Governments to declare a climate emergency. Tell it how it is.

23. Download all the energy usage data from all the UK Smart Meters, dump the data in to a spreadsheet, and sort by “KWh used” with the highest usage at the top. Analyse the data, and take action.

24. Add a column to the spreadsheet, and add in SAP predicted energy use data. Calculate the variance between actual usage and SAP predicted. Sort by biggest variances. Analyse the data, and take action.

25. Go and speak to the beef farmers.We need to drastically reduce meat consumption (per IPCC). Help them transition to farming post-beef.This could be growing vegetables (more greenhouses?), or reforestation,there'll be experts that know -but start the conversation. Make a plan!

Update from Scottish Government "Scottish Government has a shared ambition with UK Gov for an air competitive 3 hour rail journey Scotland to London" -

TIGs comments: -
(A) We won't get to a 3 hr journey time any time soon;
(B) You need to reassess your switch point.

26. Reintroduce the UK vehicle fuel tax multiplier (back dated for the 9 years its been frozen), and use all the income to support public transport, and shared to rent electric bikes/mopeds etc.

27. @ScotGovClimate drop your plans to cut Passenger Airport Duty by 50%, or is 100%?

Is Scotland the only county in the world planning to do this? Every country could make an argument about tourism -why are we the exception?

This isn't climate leadership!
Do better, Scotland!

@ScotGovClimate 28. Cancel all new road building projects. With the switch to EVs there’s going to be a LOT LESS vehicles on the road. Invest instead in public transport, bike routes, and shared electric bikes/buggies.

@ScotGovClimate 29. Offer up a prize fund for best innovative ideas to reduce emissions. I’m sure lots of people have great ideas, but nobody’s tapping in to it. Politicians do not have a monopoly on great ideas!

£10k school prize
£10k uni student prize
£10k public prize
£20k overall prize

@ScotGovClimate 30. Encourage everyone to turn down thermostats by 1.0 C saving an amazing 8% of space heating costs.

@ScotGovClimate 31. All media outlets should report CO2 ppm, every time they mention FTSE levels.