E3G

Christian Science Monitor: Fuel Prices in the UK

By Tom Burke

“At $9 per gallon, British driving habits change” is the title and theme of an article by Mark Rice-Oxley in Christian Science Monitor.

Rice-Oxley explores the links between high petrol prices and the environment – particularly carbon emissions, and includes quotes from E3G’s Tom Burke:

Many environmentalists have quietly rejoiced that the high cost of fuel is apparently achieving what governments have largely failed to: a reduction in carbon emissions.

But not all subscribe to this logic. Tom Burke, an environmental scientist and former government adviser, says high pump prices “inevitably fall hardest on people who can least bear them, instead of on governments who took wrong decisions.”

“You can’t just say it’s a good thing that prices go up and people will do more sensible things,” he says. “Older people, people already at the bottom of the pile, will find it harder ... to live and anyone who welcomes that has lost their humanity.”

Mr. Burke adds that the British government should have started upgrading public transport a long time ago so that a proper alternative was available for people who chose to leave their cars at home.”