Climate conference pact 'not costless'

Guernsey was told the cost of not acting over the climate crisis would be "very expensive indeed"

Changes required under Glasgow Climate Pact will not be "costless" for people in Guernsey, a senior politician has been warned.

Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, President of Environment and Infrastructure said the agreement was not "as good as people hoped" but "we have, without doubt, made progress".

Deputy de Sausmarez was part of a delegation from the Channel Islands at COP26 which included Deputy Jonathan le Tocq and Jersey External Affairs Minister Senator Ian Gorst.

The Glasgow Climate Pact is the first ever climate deal to explicitly plan to reduce coal, but critics have said pledges do not go far enough to limit temperature rise to 1.5C - which was the aim of the summit.

‘Transport system rethink’

Deputy de Sausmarez said: "It’s certainly not going to be a costless transition.

"However, while there will be some things that become more expensive - either temporarily or permanently - there will be other things that become more affordable.

"It’s important we look at things in the proper context, which is the cost of not acting - and that is very expensive indeed."

Last week, at a march aimed at encouraging Guernsey’s government to tackle climate change, Deputy Peter Roffey suggested making people pay for long-stay parking in St Peter Port may be a way to get people out of their cars and fight greenhouse gas emissions.

Deputy de Sausmarez said: “You can’t just look at individual bits of the transport strategy in isolation.

“It is not providing us with enough options to get around the island easily, safely and affordably enough."