Laidlaw Research Project - Centre-left governments and climate change

Happy to finally be able to share my research that I spent my summer doing looking at the new Labour government in Britain, and ideas for how it may tackle climate change influenced by fellow governments, particularity centre left ones, on one of the key global issues of our time!
Laidlaw Research Project - Centre-left governments and climate change
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My Laidlaw Reflection Report – Yotam Havkin:

Over the summer, I have been working on and completing my Laidlaw Research programme as part of my first summer on the Laidlaw scholarship. As someone with a long-standing interest in politics and having just completed my first year studying it at the University of Leeds, I wanted to use this opportunity to research something I knew I was passionate about and that could fit into both my studies but also could help me in the future. I selected environmental politics and global centre-left governments as this ties into two particular interests of mine in climate change and the Labour Party. Climate change is one of the most pressing global problems and was one of the issues that got me involved politically. Furthermore, my activism and involvement in the Labour Party also made me want to research something I could link into that. With the election of a Labour government for the first time in fourteen years, I wanted to explore what other present and recent global centre-left governments had done to tackle the climate issue, one of the highest shared priorities, and what the Labour Party and as a whole Britian, could learn from this. My research, conducted with the amazing assistance of my supervisor Sean McDaniel, focused on two primary areas of policy – energy and transport – which make up the bulk of emissions in both the UK and countries I looked at. I chose the Biden administration in America, the Scholz and Macron governments in Europe, and the Albanese and Ardern governments in Oceania. These are all various centre or centre-left leaning governments that have made tackling climate change a large priority. My work was based primarily on secondary research, looking at government documents, think tanks, and other policy sources, that enabled me to gain a stronger understanding of climate policy and some of the best policies to tackle it. The research project helped shape my skills in researching public policy and drawing conclusions from it. I learnt a number of leadership skills such as independent and structured researching, part of my self-defined pathway being to find and create my own project, along with taking on the leading role in conducting my research without any pre-defined pathway to do so. This means in the future I will be more confident with researching and writing skills which will greatly aid me. I hope this report will serve those who seek to educate themselves about climate policy and the opportunities for the new Labour government, along with people already interested and knowledgeable in the field of climate policy research.

 Summary of my research and findings: 

Energy:

A pie chart with numbers and text

Description automatically generatedEnergy is the largest emitter in almost every country I looked at, and globally, contributing over a third of global emissions. The Biden administration have made huge progress in tackling energy emissions. Much of this progress has come from the flagship $800bn Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included $400bn of climate spending, mostly through subsidies and rebate programs. Among these included decade-long tax breaks for clean energy production and manufacturing of solar, wind, and more renewable energy, along with rebate programs for heat pumps and electric cooking which bring down household energy use. The bill has unleashed thousands of clean energy projects across America and estimated to bring in $3 trillion in private sector renewable investment, lowering America’s carbon emissions by 40% by 2030[1].  

In Europe, Germany has faced political decisions impeding its ability to tackle climate change, however the Scholz government has still outlined initiatives to tackle German energy emissions. These include €17bn subsidies for new hydrogen gas plants, new Climate Action Programme designating more onshore wind and solar, and Carbon Contracts subsiding companies financing low emission technology and reducing industry emissions. France has a large amount of nuclear power and thus lower energy emissions, however have still aimed to decrease them. The Green Industry Law of 2023, a response to America’s IRA, allows companies to request 20-45% tax credits to cover new renewable energy equipment – leading to €23bn of green investment and 40,000 new jobs by 2030[2]. New strategies for offshore wind and hydrogen, including funding new gigafactories aim to create 40bn of onshore wind investment by 2040[3]. These aims are all similar to Labour policy in the UK and could hold numerous opportunities for Britain.

In Oceania, Australia has been historically slow to act on climate change, unlike Britain, however the relatively new Albanese government has made tackling it a priority. Their new Rewiring the Nation law aims for 82% renewable energy by 2030 with $20bn of investment to modernise and make energy greener. The Future Made in Australia package, a $22bn response to the IRA includes hydrogen tax incentives, innovation funds, and millions to prioritise and implement renewable energy. New Zealand is an interesting case as for many years its recently departed Ardern-led Labor government was seen as a climate global leader. However, with an energy system that was already mostly green through hydropower, and most of its emissions coming through agriculture, there was not huge climate progress, with the Zero Carbon Act mainly being symbolic. However, they did introduce a new solar rebate that offsetted new solar costs and aimed to lead to residential rooftop solar doubling[4].

Analysis – what can Britain and Labour learn from this?

Britain has historically been a world leader on climate change, however in recent years has fallen behind in the green energy race. One of the main things I realised from my research was how much climate action was now shifting to green industrial and subsidy strategy based on tax breaks and incentives for investment in green renewables. Whilst Britain already does well and has almost 40% renewable energy, the new Labour target is for zero carbon electricity by 2030. This will require new investment in onshore and offshore wind, solar, and hydrogen. Several reports[5][6] I came across called for Britain to, similarly to Australia and France, respond to the Biden Inflation Reduction Act, perhaps with a narrower focus on certain industries. This may include new incentives for solar, offshore wind, and hydrogen, which already exist however have smaller financial assistance than Europe and America. The new Labour government has already managed to undo the onshore wind ban and has extensive plans to greatly expand renewable energy, and it would do good to look at their European and American counterpoints. Being able to get this right would be able to massively boost the economy, increase private investment, and create thousands of jobs.

Transport:

The second area of policy I researched was transport, which is also one of the largest emitters globally and in many of the countries I researched. In America, along with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration passed the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which included billions in transport-oriented climate spending. Biden has introduced large tax credits for electric vehicles both new and used and has allocated billions in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. They have introduced new regulations on tailpipe emissions aiming for a 56% reduction by 2032[7] and also implemented new strategies for reducing emissions from freight transit and school buses. The Biden administration has also spent billions on Sustainable Aviation Fuel to reduce airline emissions, which make up a significant bulk of transport emissions. This has also been done via tax credits for production, and billions in funding for fuel related projects.

In Europe, Germany has faced challenges reducing its transport emissions, dubbed the ‘problem child’ of its emission reduction. The recent Climate Action Law reform had transport sectors targets weakened, and emissions from cars and lorries have not decreased since the 1990’s. Germany introduced an electric vehicle subsidy in 2016 which helped subsidise over two million vehicles[8], however was ended due to political and finance issues. However, they have introduced a Power to the Roads programme which has increased charging infrastructure for electric motorway trucks and have some of the highest number of electric car charging points in Europe[9]. In France, where transport is the highest emitter, Macron has introduced not only electric car subsidy scheme but an electric car lease scheme which was suspended because there was double demand than expected[10]. Macron has also banned domestic short haul flights and outlined hundreds of millions for suburban train lines, however has been critiqued for symbolism over effectiveness[11]. France aims for a million electric cars by 2027, and currently has the 3rd highest number of public charging points in Europe[12].

In Oceania, Albanese’s Driving the Nation fund invested millions into EV charging networks, and Australia has doubled electric car sales every year between 2021-2023[13]. They have introduced a new Vehicle Efficiency Standard which caps emissions from new cars and aims for a 50% emission reduction by 2029. Australia has also invested in sustainable air fuel with a 3.2 billion fund supporting the industry. New Zealand has a 30% zero emission vehicle target by 2035 and Ardern introduced schemes such as the Clean Car Scheme and UTE tax paid by people buying polluting engines to fund electric vehicle rebates. The Clean Car Discount lead to thousands more EV’s sold, however both programmes have now been scrapped by the National government despite lowering emissions.

Analysis – What can Labour and Britain take from this?

Similar to energy policy trends, transport policies have also focused on subsidies and incentives, particularly on electric vehicles (EV’s). The UK currently has around 67,000 charging points, and installed a record 16,000 public chargers in 2023, with a target currently aiming for 300,000 public chargers by 2030. In order to reach this, the UK will need to massively increase its EV charging infrastructure, it – the target will still leave 1 charger for every 32 (estimated) EV’s at that point[14]. Labour has already committed to re-introducing the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles, and so reaching these targets is vital. However, the UK still has lower numbers than most of Europe. France and Germany both have higher numbers of EV’s and France is aiming for 100,000 more charging points than the UK by 2030. Reports[15] have called for the UK to adopt more targeted support and grants to lower incomes households to incentivise EV’s, for example the social leasing program in France. There were also recommendations tying public funding to installing common connectors as Biden has done, and planning reform to allow councils to install more charging points[16]. Road travel accounts for 91% of transport emissions in the UK, and it is vital to lower these to tackle climate change.

Wider political lessons:

There are several political lessons for Labour to draw from abroad. One political lesson Labour can learn is how much of the IRA’s implementation has focused on swing states and Republican districts, making it harder for Republicans to oppose it as it’s created thousands of jobs in their area. In the UK there are stronger opportunities for net zero investment in areas outside London which could help a levelling-up policy agenda, which helps accomplish both political aims and electoral benefits. Australia established a green bank in 2010 (CEFC) to invest renewable energy and clean technology, which has successfully financed clean power and attracts private to public money with a five-to-one ratio[17], ideas Labour’s ambitious GB Energy plans can learn from to lower bills. With a tight economic and political financial situation, stability is a big Treasury aim and decade-long frameworks such as in the IRA can help bring in private investment (the IRA is estimated to bring in over $3trn[18]) and reduce the need for large state expenditure.  However, there are also dangers to behold. Europe has faced numerous climate related disputes. The Yellow Vest movement in France was partly fuelled by potential higher fuel taxes and ended up being scrapped. In Germany plans to ban new oil and gas heating were unpopular and watered down. The rise of the far-right in Europe has been partially driven by unpopular climate policies, particularly ones which directly affected voters. However, in New Zealand, farmer protests forced Ardern to back down over plans to reduce agricultural emissions and keep lower taxes. Labour must be cautious and know that voters are only willing to go so far in order to tackle climate change.

My Reflections:

Over the course of my summer I have learnt a number of new skills from partaking in this research programme. I went down the self-defined route, which held a number of benefits, but also challenges, that I had to tackle. I had to come up myself with what I wanted to research, which benefitted me as it allowed me to research something I was passionate about, but on the other hand I had to do more work to get my research ready and carry it out. As mentioned, I knew that I wanted to look into public policy and something I could link to my Labour Party activism to, and began by drawing up a list of ideas that I could look into. I also discussed my ideas with my Leeds Laidlaw program administrators who encouraged me down this route. After contacting a number of professors at Leeds Politics department, I was lucky that Sean McDaniel agreed to work with me on the project as my supervisor and was a great help throughout. After discussing a number of ideas, I decided on looking at climate change policy and looking at what Labour could take if they won the next election. During my research an election was called and I ended up writing my project in the context of a Labour government!

My next stage was drawing up a large list of policy areas and countries that I might potentially research. I spent the first part of my research familiarising myself with international and domestic climate policy, researching the UK’s history on climate change policy in recent decades. I looked into Labour party policy on climate change such as GB Energy and expert insights into potential actions. I drew up tables of different policy areas and countries from across the globe, with a focus on ones with current or recent centre-left governments, and researched policies they had taken in a number of sectors, from transport to industry. This gave me a wide knowledge depth, and helped me later direct my more specific research. After discussing with my supervisor, we narrowed it down to a smaller number of countries and policy areas, and smaller numbers of areas of analysis I wanted to explore.

The bulk of my research was spent researching each government by policy area – eventually choosing energy and transport – and taking down in-depth notes and ideas about their policies. This was done mostly via the internet, reading news articles, looking at graphs and charts, reading government policy documents papers, and learning from experts such as consultancy and think tank groups. I used numerous climate expertise websites such as Carbon Brief and Clean Energy Wire, to further my research and find and explore new policies. In the latter stages, I did some research into the political and economic analysis of these policies, looking into their economic and political impact and popularity. I used this to link into my previous stages of research into what the UK has already done, and how Labour can take this and improve on it with current policies or be inspired from new ideas from abroad.

Doing this research over the summer has impacted me in a number of ways and enabled me to continue to develop a number of leadership skills that I had begun learning on my Laidlaw journey. Firstly, this was the first time I had conducted a proper research project, and it allowed me to explore my own leadership skills in a number of ways. I was able to choose a topic I was passionate about and look into it in depth, something that isn’t always possible to do in a university course setting. I had to take on responsibilities to come up with my research topic and plan it out, and most of all set a timeline for my research and stick to deadlines for my research. I believe this will help me in the future as public policy is an area I am interested in going into and the experience of having conducted my own independent research project has given me positive skills I will have in the future. It will also help with wider skills of deadlines and taking on independent work. Throughout the duration of my Laidlaw journey so far, I have also learnt a number of other skills such as teamwork and the importance of emotional variety in a team, I believe that when put together with my independent researching skills, and all the skills I will learn over the rest of my course and LIA, this will provide me with a wider depth of new knowledge I can use together to have a full range of tools a leader needs and can carry with me for the rest of my life.

I hope my research will be able to contribute towards some political debate towards climate related policy, and also help inform people of the challenges, but also opportunities offered by one of the defining global political issues of our time. I was unable to fit all of my research in detail into this reflection report, so I plan on also having a longer read version with more research detail and perhaps create other forms of media showcasing my work too.

In conclusion, this report serves to show both the research I have completed over the summer, but also my reflections on how I conducted my research, the skills I have learnt, and what I hope the impact of my research will be on myself but also externally. Having this opportunity was a great privilege, and I would like to thank the Leeds Laidlaw team and my supervisor Sean McDaniel for all their help throughout, I believe this will serve me greatly in the future and has given me the chance to explore and learn from a range of issues that I am passionate about.

Supervisor comments:

Yotam has shown passion and dedication to research this topic over the course of several months. His research skills have developed strongly and I have been impressed with how he has balanced this work with other commitments, as well as how he has honed the project over time to focus on the most important and relevant issues

-            Dr Sean McDaniel.

 



[1] Popovich, Plumer, 2022, How the New Climate Bill Will Reduce Emissions, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/02/climate/manchin-deal-emissions-cuts.html

[4] New Zealand Labour Party, 2023, Press Release: Doubling Rooftop Solar to reduce Bills and Emissions, https://www.labour.org.nz/news-release_doubling_rooftop_solar#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe'll%20boost%20New%20Zealand's,and%20%242%2C000%20for%20a%20battery.

[5] Salutin, Social Market Foundation, 2023, One year on from the Inflation Reduction Act: International Responses to the IRA,

https://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/One-year-on-from-the-Inflation-Reduction-Act-Aug-2023.pdf

[6] Tony Blair Institute, 2023, Copy, Compete and Collaborate: How the UK must respond to the IRA to deliver the decade of electrification,

https://institute.global/insights/climate-and-energy/copy-compete-collaborate

[7] Noor, The Guardian, 2024, Biden Announces new Rule for gas car emissions that could boost EV sector

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/20/biden-car-transportation-emission-regulation-pollution

[8] Amelang, Clean Energy Wire, 2023, Abrupt end to German electric car subsidies fuels doubt about green mobility target

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/abrupt-end-german-electric-car-subsidies-fuels-doubts-about-green-mobility-target

[9] ACEA, 2024, Interactive map – correlation between electric car sales and charging point availability, https://www.acea.auto/figure/interactive-map-correlation-between-electric-car-sales-and-charging-point-availability-2023-data/

[10] Willsher, The Guardian, 2024, France halts €100-a month electric car leasing scheme after huge demand

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/13/france-halts-100-a-month-electric-car-leasing-scheme-after-surge-in-demand

[11] Breeden, The New York Times, 2023, Vaunted French Ban on short domestic flights is a pale Shade of Green

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/world/europe/france-short-haul-flights-emissions.html

[12] ACEA, 2024, Interactive map – correlation between electric car sales and charging point availability, https://www.acea.auto/figure/interactive-map-correlation-between-electric-car-sales-and-charging-point-availability-2023-data/

[13] Beazley, The Guardian, 2023, Australian EV sales have increased by 185% since 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/05/australia-ev-sales-elecrtic-cars-vehicle-increase-185-per-cent-since-2022

[14] Salutin, Social Market Foundation, 2024, Leading the charge: How can government successfully manage electric vehicle charge point deployment

https://www.smf.co.uk/commentary_podcasts/electric-vehicle-chargepoint-deployment/

[15] Salutin, Shepherd, Patti, Social Market Foundation, 2024, Electric Avenue: Increasing access to electric vehicles among low income households

https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/ev-access-low-income/

[16] Salutin, Social Market Foundation, 2024, Leading the charge: How can government successfully manage electric vehicle charge point deployment

https://www.smf.co.uk/commentary_podcasts/electric-vehicle-chargepoint-deployment/

 

[17] Trivedi, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, 2024, Energising Australia’s Green Bank

https://ieefa.org/resources/energising-australias-green-bank#:~:text=In%20the%20fiscal%20year%202022,from%20debt%20and%20equity%20investments.

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