Good News, Bad News

It's January, so let's start with the good news.

Good news from the new home front
If your fingers are green enough, growing your own vegetables could save you around £1,500 a year, according to new research by the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners. The study priced the amount of food grown by gardeners at cheapest supermarket costs. (Hat tip to Rob Hopkins)

Allotments were, of course, a crucial part of Britain's war effort in the 1940s. This week, nef fellow Andrew Simms and Green Party leader Caroline Lucas launched the New Home Front project, which aims to gather the lessons of wartime and apply them to the fight against climate change.

There's a poster competition to celebrate the launch of the scheme, asking people to adapt the iconic public messages of the Second World War for 21st century environmental challenges. The winner will receive £100 and have their design displayed on the cover of the next New Home Front report. Read more at the BBC and the Daily Telegraph.

Government advisor recommends early intervention for children, financed by bond scheme
Graham Allen, the Labour MP tasked by the Government to research the potential of early intervention schemes to help British children, published his report this week. He comes to a very similar conclusion as nef did, in our 2009 report Backing the Future published with Action for Children. If the Government invests in tried-and-tested children's services now, it will generate huge savings for the taxpayer in the long run. Like nef, Allen advises setting up a bond scheme to finance the project.

Study suggests world could be zero carbon by 2030
Renewable energy alone could meet demand in just two decades, according to engineers. Although it will take a massive building effort, it is perfectly possible to harness enough energy without the need for coal power or nuclear energy. This chimes with Zero Carbon Britain report published last year by the Centre for Alternative Technology and including nef research. All we need now is a Green New Deal to make it happen.

And now for the bad news (only one this week because it's such a biggie):

International Energy Agency admits that current climate policy won't work
In the world of energy policy, you can't get much more establishment than the IEA. That's why it's always worth listening when they start putting out messages that wouldn't be out of place on the newsfeeds of environmental NGOs. Their latest admission, courtesy of a BBC interview with their chief economist Fatih Birrol, is that current climate change policy is in no way up to the task of stopping runaway global warming. Dr Birrol warned that the lack of action so far means that we need to "kiss goodbye" to the 2 °C target. While this is hardly news to those who have kept up with the science, it should prick the ears of world leaders who felt satisfied with the outcome of Cancún. As the BBC's Roger Harribin remarked, Birrol has "said the unsayable". We still, unfortunately, have a massive task ahead of us. (Hat tip to the Ashden Awards)