Aldersgate Group

The Aldersgate Group and UK Green Building council have urged the Education Secretary not to scrap BREEAM requirement for new schools. In a joint letter to Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, they argue that the cost of a school achieving an "excellent" BREEAM standard would be far outweighed by the resulting saving on energy bills.

For more information, see the Guardian coverage here.

Following the news that Chris Huhne has resigned from Cabinet, the Guardian has reported that he won plaudits from many in the green movement who saw him fight for his department, DECC, against sceptics in the Treasury and secure vital funds for key projects despite dismal government finances.

Andrew Raingold, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group, said: "His biggest success has been winning the argument with cabinet colleagues on the fourth carbon budget [which strengthened the UK's carbon-cutting targets up to 2027] – demonstrating that ambitious carbon cuts through the 2020s can benefit both the environment and the economy. He has also managed to get major concessions from the Treasury regarding the green investment bank, ensuring that it will have £3bn in initial funding in spite of severe fiscal constraints."

For full article, see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/03/chris-huhne-greens-done-well

AG Director, Chris Tuppen, has advised MPs that the UK should seek to develop the reporting and accountability of its consumption emissions to supplement the carbon budgets (which are measured on a production basis). Appearing as a witness to the Energy and Climate Change Committee, he said that this "would be complementary to how the Government encourage businesses and organisations to report their carbon emissions". 

To watch a video of the evidence session, click here.  For more details on the inquiry, click here. 

We are looking for a motivated, enthusiastic individual to assist with our busy events schedule. This is an administrative role which will cover handling requests for places, managing the guest list and assisting at the events. This will involve working on some evenings. The Events Officer will also assist in general office duties and undertake small research projects.

You should be educated to degree level and have experience in an administrative or project support role. You will need excellent interpersonal skills, good time management and organisational skills and be a team player with the ability to work using your own initiative.

This is a full time position, although we will also consider applicants wanting to work four-day weeks. The position is fixed contract for one year, with the possibility of extension. For a full job specification please click on the adjacent pdf.

To apply send a covering letter (max one side) and CV (max two sides) to Victoria Fleming-Williams (vfwilliams@aldersgategroup.org.uk). The closing date for applications is 5pm Wednesday 8th February 2012. Interviews will be held w/c 13th February at our offices in central London. Ideally the successful applicant will start on 27th February.

Chris Huhne, DECC Secretary of State, announced that the UK will provide administrative support to the UN's Green Climate Fund at the Aldersgate Group reception on the climate change talks at Durban. He stated, "I'm pleased to announce today that the UK government will contribute to the set-up costs of the fund during 2012 and of course we will also be considering a substantial contribution to its activities once it's fully operational". Other countries contributing to the set-up costs of the Green Climate Fund include the Republic of Korea, Germany and Denmark.

He also defended the Coalition's environmental performance declaring, "we are absolutely on course to be the greenest government ever". To read E2B's coverage of the Secretary of State's speech at the Aldersgate Group reception, click here.

The AG has formally responded to DECC's Red Tape Challenge, emphasising the need to focus on regulatory outcomes to drive growth in the long term. The AG has argued that a streamlined approach can reduce business costs, for example by reforming climate change and energy efficiency legislation. 

Read the full AG response, posted adjacent.

A technical paper on the economic benefits of resource efficiency by Aldersgate Group (AG) Directors Andrew Raingold, Sir John Harman and Ian Dickie has been published in the international journal "Proceedings of ICE - Waste and Resource Management". Permission has been kindly granted to print one copy of the article for personal use by AG stakeholders. Any other use of the PDF file is subject to reprint fees.