Assembly sets out carbon-neutral plan for Jersey

Tuesday 01 June 2021

Creating a new Minister for Energy, a carbon-neutral bus service, and no new registrations of fossil-fuelled private cars after 2025 are among some of the recommendations in a new report published today, to help the island tackle climate change.

It's been put together by a Citizens’ Assembly and focusses on the island's two greatest sources of greenhouse gasses: transport and heating/cooling/cooking.

The Citizens’ Assembly was made up of 45 islanders who were randomly selected after 9,000 invitations were sent out to people asking them to register their interest.

Between March and May 2021, the group had 14 virtual meetings, during which they received briefings from members of a specialist Advisory Panel, chaired by Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society.

They were asked to make recommendations to the States Assembly on how the island should become carbon-neutral.

Pictured: The Assembly recommended that the bus service become carbon neutral by 2025.

The majority of the group echoed the Government's existing target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, providing a series of recommendations on how to deliver that.

These include making bus services carbon-neutral as well as more accessible and affordable by 2025, a ‘walking and cycling first’ transport model and an immediate and fair transition to low-carbon transport by 2030 that will ensure financial support for both low-income households and small businesses. According to the Assembly, fossil-fuelled private cars should be phased out, with no new registration of this type of vehicles after 2025.

The group is also suggesting the Government should support carbon reduction technologies for all modes of transport that are currently available immediately, with new technologies being introduced as soon as they become viable.

The Assembly is also recommending a focus on buildings, with Building Standards and Planning Law incorporating carbon neutral standards by 2023, the creation of Energy Performance Certificates and a retrofitting strategy for residential buildings by the end of 2022 to ensure the best energy efficiency. 

Pictured: Carbon neutral standards for buildings should be set by 2023.

A Minister for Energy, to be appointed no later than 2022 and advised by an independent expert panel, has also been recommended to take responsibility for the transition to becoming carbon-free by 2045 or sooner.

The group of 45 islanders is also inviting the Government to empower communities to become carbon-neutral by creating policy and funding frameworks for communal power generation and energy efficiency measures related to heating, cooling and cooking.

The States Assembly will have an initial debate of the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations in July. Once the Government has published its Carbon Neutral roadmap, islanders will be invited to share their views before it is debate in the States Assembly in Spring 2022.

To read the full report, click HERE, and follow Express tomorrow for in depth analysis.