Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality

COUNTRIES

The scope for countries to move their people onto sustainable, climate- friendly travel paths is massive. They can enforce road speed limits, provide good public transport nationwide, ensure adequate production of biofuels, or require planners to design cities around walkers and cyclists, avoiding urban sprawl and its consequences of long commuting distances, and en- courage mixed neighbourhoods of activity and housing. They can ensure that private transport pays its true share of the costs of infrastructure by increasing road and petrol taxes. They can act together to see that inter- national travel (mainly by air and sea) bears the environmental costs of its activities, for instance by demanding that aviation fuel is taxed in a way that gives no country an advantage over others. The Netherlands, Portugal, and Finland charge different rates for car reg- istration to encourage buyers to choose the cleanest models. The Dutch version means the new registration taxes, payable when a car is sold to its first buyer, can earn the owner of a hybrid a discount up to €6 000 (US$9 400). Austria has had a registration tax based on fuel consump- tion for several years. Shelter Worldwide energy consumption is projected to increase by 54 per cent from 2001 levels by 2025. The UK’s Energy Saving Trust says over a quar- ter of all the country’s CO 2 emissions come from individual homes, with the average household producing six tonnes of CO 2 every year. But £7.5 thousand million (US$14.85 thousand million) worth of the energy used every year in British households is wasted. Of the electricity used in the UK, £3 thousand million (US$5.9 thousand million) worth annually goes on powering consumer electronic and computer products – 30 per cent of the average household electricity bill. There are devices which will let you see how much energy your home is us- ing. So-called “smart meters” available for less than US$100 monitor elec- tricity supply while providing real-time monetary information about the household’s energy use. When lights and appliances are turned on, the bat-

THE CYCLE – REDUCE KICK THE HABIT

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