BP missed the boat on solar energy

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

Why did BP quit the solar industry and what will that decision mean? We asked two leading commentators for their analysis.

This second post is by Ben Caldecott, head of policy, advisory at Climate Change Capital and a Green Alliance trustee.

 

BP exiting the solar business after 40 years might sound like a dramatic step. Unfortunately, the recent move wasn’t all that surprising for two reasons.

First, BP’s once fabled ‘beyond petroleum’ strategy has been dead and buried for some time already. The only ‘alternative’ energy strategy that incumbent oil companies like BP seem to be pursuing is more of the same, plus as much unconventional oil and gas as possible. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand, The economic crisis | Leave a comment

Why BP’s withdrawal from solar is no surprise

Posted on February 6, 2012 by

Why did BP quit the solar industry and what will that decision mean? We asked two leading commentators for their analysis.

This first post is by Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor at Greenpeace UK 

Many have noted BP’s decision to move out of solar energy after dabbling for 40 years.  When everyone from Google to Warren Buffet to Trans Canada (the company trying to build the KeystoneXL  pipeline) is moving into solar energy, BP has decided to wind down that portion of its business.

Why? The global reputation of the company is battered, in the wake of selling off a dangerous and unprofitable refinery business in the US (including Texas City refinery, where an explosion killed 15 and injured 170 in 2005); the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon accident; and the finally abortive attempt to tie up with Rosneft in the Russian Arctic in 2010.  Why would BP finally jettison one of its nominally more attractive assets? Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand | 4 Comments

Don’t give up on voluntary agreements for food waste

Posted on February 2, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.

The news that the companies signed up to WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment are seriously off track for meeting their target for reducing food waste in their supply chains (only 0.4 per cent reduction against a target of five per cent by end of 2012) will doubtless be seized upon by opponents of  ‘voluntary agreements’.  Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why businesses need incentives for resource security

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.

Later this spring, the government will publish its Resource Security Action Plan. The Plan is a response to business concerns about resource availability, since Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports, and the price spikes induced by high global demand and commodity speculation, have set off panic in all directions. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy demand, Policy | 1 Comment

Behaviour change theory: psychological factors

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Following on from last week’s introductory post on behavioural theory, here’s a summary of some of the individual-level factors that influence whether people do green things or not.

Rational beings?
In standard neoclassical economics, people are seen as self-interested, rational beings who weigh up the costs and benefits of various actions, and proceed accordingly. While people do sometimes act rationally in their own self-interest, this model has been criticised for failing to take into account many of the psychological, social and contextual factors that also affect our behaviour.

Behavioural economists, for example, argue that we do many things automatically and are often guided by psychological and social biases. This approach forms the basis of the 2010 Institute for Government MINDSPACE report, and for the popular book Nudge, both of which have had some influence on the government’s response to the challenge of pro-environmental behaviour change. Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Beyond nudge, Energy demand, Policy, Psychology | 3 Comments

How to get a good deal from the Green Deal

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

The government’s consultation on its Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) proposals ends today. These are the government’s flagship carbon reduction policies, aimed at reducing carbon emissions from homes and small businesses. They are both due to launch this autumn.

Under our Climate Leadership Programme, Green Alliance worked with three coalition MPs in their constituencies in late 2011, looking at what the current proposals would mean in practice and how they could be improved. We found that the Green Deal is at risk of very low uptake by the public, especially if the needs of local economies and the fuel poor are ignored. Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour change, Energy demand, Policy | Leave a comment

Advertising is everywhere – and greens need to take it seriously

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

This is a guest post by Guy Shrubsole, director of the Public Interest Research Centre 

What did you watch over Christmas? Sky’s new production of Treasure Island? A catch-up of season two of The Killing? Or… lots of adverts?

Whatever you watched, it’s very likely that you got treated to a high volume of advertisements. The average Briton is exposed to 250 TV commercials every week[1], and that’s just broadcast ads. Environmental campaigners and behaviour-change analysts rightly focus much of their attention on influencing editorial agendas – getting a cause into the news or ensuring a documentary about an issue is accurate. But to keep on ignoring the commercial advertising that surrounds such editorial agendas (and thanks to product placement, increasingly pervades them) would be a big mistake. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments