It might just be me and my unfortunate habit of reading too much news, but it seems as though the conversation around climate change has been focussing a lot on consumer choices rather than fossil fuels lately – e.g., shopping on Amazon or bying a hybrid car rather than a fully electric one. That’s not to say we don’t all have our part to play, but for our world to truly divest itself of fossil fuels, we need effective intervention and legislation from our governments.
Which is why I was pleased to see some focus on alternative fuels in the Citizen Space Aggregator this week. Here are some examples of national governments consulting on the switch away from fossil fuels.
Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources, AU (DISER)
DISER are consulting on their Future Fuels Strategy Discussion Paper. It sets out a route to adopting low-emission vehicles at scale across Australia.
Why it’s good: it covers all the bases, like charging infrastructure, electrifying commercial fleets of vehicles, and the use of non-electric fuels like hydrogen. This consultation is one stage in several on this issue, following an early engagement with stakeholders, and seeks comments on broad issues like barriers and priorities, rather than responses to specific policy points.
Scottish Government, UK
The Scottish Government are consulting on a new Heat in Buildings strategy. It aims to transform the way buildings are heated in Scotland in a way that will allow them to reach the nation’s target of zero emissions by 2045.
Why it’s good: this is a large consultation, which makes sense – it’s a big issue. It’s a non-linear (chapter-based) survey which makes it easy for the respondent to keep track of what questions they’ve answered. The text introducing the table of contents lays out how to submit a response, and makes it clear that respondents don’t have to answer every question.
Government of Northern Ireland, UK
Back in [2016], the NI Government (also known as the NI Executive) rolled out a scheme incentivising the use of biomass boilers as an alternative source of fuel. However, the rollout of the non-domestic version of the scheme led to a scandal and, ultimately, the dissolution of the devolved government for nearly 3 years.
In 2020, the NI Executive reached an agreement and resumed operations. Now, they’re consulting on what the future of the scheme should be: whether it should close, and if so, whether compensation should be given to organisations that took part in the scheme in good faith and lost out financially.
Why it’s good: there’s a lot of reading here, but in this context it wouldn’t make sense to simplify or skip details. All relevant documentation is embedded in the body of the consultation so you don’t need to open a new tab or download anything.
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