Welsh government pushes sustainable development bill

Well known British environmentalist and former chair of the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) Jonathon Porritt has asked for public support of the drive for Welsh sustainability. He sees the country as one of the greenest in the world, and hopes that the Sustainable Development Bill will be a huge step forward, after disappointments from the UK government.

The bill aims to put sustainable development at the centre of all public sector decisions, a move that would run contrary to UK government, who have scrapped the SDC. The Welsh government also put a 5p levy on carrier bags, coming into effect at the end of last year. A report issued last week found use of the bags has declined by 96 per cent in the last six months, demonstrating the success of the scheme.

On the Welsh attitude towards sustainability Porritt says, “There is a consensus in favour of sustainability which can be traced back to the very start of Welsh devolution. Sustainable development is in the Welsh Assembly's DNA - when it was founded in the 90s, it was given a legal duty to promote it, which was almost unique in the world.”

The ultimate ambition if the Welsh government is to be a ‘One Planet Nation’, which means that it would use resources at a rate at which the planet can replenish them; an ambitious goal, as many developed nations are using several times the amount of resources that can be replenished sustainably. They have made some strides towards this, with a 48 per cent recycling rate, the highest of the UK’s nations and a universal food waste collection.

Porritt is quick to move from praise to room for improvement however. “Carbon emissions are too high, renewable energy is held back by a slow planning system, and progress in the Welsh Government is patchy, with economic development a key area where sustainable ideas need to be taken seriously,” he says.

The important step now is to ensure that the new bill does not lose its sting as it passes through government due process. Porritt is keen to push for a strengthening of the legislation however, despite what some would say is a revolutionary bill already on the table.