Climate change

In a new report, Simon Roberts outlines why poor households are facing a triple injustice when it comes to cutting carbon emissions.

Lately we have seen worrying media reports that talks are breaking down on the future of flood insurance between Government and the insurance industry. The National Flood Forum reports that at least 816 homes have been flooded in the past week, with some areas facing repeated flooding. This raises concerns about how vulnerable households will be treated in future by insurance companies.

Climate change is a hot topic in the news this week.

We tend to think about climate change as a global issue – the 'double injustice' of the industrialised West burning carbon and the global South suffering the consequences. But do similar climate injustices occur within countries such as the UK? Are we equally responsible for and equally affected by climate change? Not according to our two reports published today, which highlight that the people who emit the least carbon in the UK are most likely to suffer from the consequences of climate change.

Flooding is probably the most significant natural hazard we face in the UK, and there is more to the issue than just coastal and river flooding. Around 2 million people are at risk from pluvial, or rain related, flooding, so we need a better understanding of who's vulnerable.

Somewhere between 4 and 5.5 million people in the UK live in fuel poverty – defined broadly as a situation where a household spends more than 10% of its income on fuel costs. Will existing fuel poverty policies reduce this number and, if not, what are the alternatives?

It promises to be 'a supercharged national occasion that offers an annual renewal of our ambition and confidence to combat climate change.'

The deliberations at Copenhagen last week were hailed as the opportunity for the international community to respond to climate change. But the summit has disappointed many, with its failure to reach a legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.