The sad demise of the Sustainable Development Commission

On Wednesday, Defra announced its decision to cut funding to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). 

Ironically, the axe was swung right as the commission launched its annual review of Central Government’s internal environmental performance, demonstrating how much money Government has saved by becoming more environmentally efficient - partly because of the commission’s cajoling.

The SDC will be sadly missed and, sooner or later, Government will probably end up re-creating something similar at significant cost. 

The commission has two fundamental strengths, which were brilliantly demonstrated by the work it did around policies towards supermarkets. 

Examining the Government’s approach through a sustainability lens enabled the SDC to point out how disjointed and conflicting policy had become because it had been driven by individual Government departments who were just concerned about their own specific issues. 

This strategic overview, coupled with an unrivalled ability to get the relevant information from departments, allowed the SDC to provide fresh, compelling and comprehensive guidance on where policy should be heading.

Without the SDC, Government will lose this ability to make the crucial connections that are needed to provide sustainable answers, especially as Defra’s new objectives don’t even mention the word. 

Government will also lose a watchdog that has helped chivvy reluctant departments into making necessary changes.

It is ironic that just at a time when the business world is increasingly beginning to see the need to create more collaborative sustainable solutions, Government is heading in the opposite direction. 

It is not even going to save that much money, cutting the SDC will save £2 million per annum and I have been told off-the-record that the redundancy and close down costs will be in the region of £1 million.

Energy companies and trust

On Thursday, I went to a stakeholder group to review the CSR reports of one of the major energy companies. I find these discussions interesting as you get to hear views about the company from many different perspectives. 

What surprised me from this discussion was that the energy sector has the lowest level of public trust compared to every other sector – even banks.

Whilst this is clearly a problem for each of the individual energy companies to address, it also has wider policy ramifications. 

Most of the Government’s efforts to drive energy efficiency and retro-fitting of energy measures are being driven through the energy companies in initiatives such as CESP and CERT. 

If there is a lack of public trust in the companies then these initiatives are going to be harder to implement because of consumer resistance.

Energy companies do have a key role to play in making existing homes more energy efficient, but I am increasingly convinced that they should not play the leading role.

Instead we have to create strong local partnerships, perhaps led by a local authority or community organisation who can create a solution that is right for their area and that maximises the opportunity to bring in other measures such as water conservation, lifestyle advice, etc.

Big Society

On Tuesday, I went to Defra to inform them of the lessons we are learning through the delivery of our EcoTeams project which they are funding. 

EcoTeams is one of the few initiatives that has independent academic evidence demonstrating that behaviour change programmes can achieve significant cost and environmental savings. 

The model it uses is almost exactly the same as Weight Watchers, which independent research has also shown to be highly effective.

With the Defra funding, we have attempted to take a highly successful small-scale community initiative and deliver it on a much larger-scale. 

The transition has been difficult and gives some indications of the challenges that the Big Society will face. 

The recruitment of volunteer team leaders has been painfully difficult requiring many phone calls, discussions with local community groups and promotional activities with over-stretched local authorities. 

Helping people to turn good intentions into actions is also time-consuming given the many other pressures they face in their lives. 

Finally, it has been tricky to get the balance right with the website between knowing whether it should just provide information or whether it should help people through the process.

What is clear is that it could not be done without funding.  If Cameron is expecting the Big Society to magically appear for free – he is in for a shock!

Localism

Localism is another one of the mantras of the new Coalition Government.  At first glance, this has huge appeal. 

Getting local people to decide what services and support they need and giving them the ability to deliver these services free from the stifling constraints of central bureaucracies sounds totally sensible.  In reality, life is not that simple.

For a number of years we have delivered fantastically successful environmental projects in some of the most challenging schools in London with funding from the London Councils. 

We have built up a highly skilled team with an excellent reputation.  Their services are advertised throughout the Capital and are provided to schools that want them. 

The funding source is now in serious jeopardy.  The London Council’s pot is made up of funds from all the London Boroughs and now many of these boroughs want the money back to distribute within their own boundaries as part of the drive towards localism. 

They will still want to run environmental change projects within their schools and gain access to the skills that are available at Global Action Plan. 

Unfortunately we might not be able to help.  Instead of having one central pot of money, which is cost effective and easy to administer and monitor, we will have to start talking individually to the many boroughs, negotiating separate contracts and service agreements. 

This will inevitably increase our costs and financial risk, meaning a more expensive service for London schools and less certainty about an on-going service.

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Trewin has been blogging for Global Action Plan for the past few years. If you enjoyed this week's blog you can find more here.

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