Deputy Carolyn Labey, who is also the chairwoman of Jersey Overseas Aid, said that work was being carried out to assess whether the Island could fund carbon sinks – green zones of trees and other vegetation that absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide – around the world as it seeks to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero over the next decade.
Earlier this year the States voted heavily in favour of declaring a climate change emergency and for the Island to become carbon-neutral by 2030, meaning it will need to remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as it generates.
Deputy Labey said that she would like to see Jersey focus on cutting its own carbon emissions to achieve this rather than relying on offset projects, which would mainly have to take place overseas because of Jersey’s limited landspace.
‘We are exploring offset schemes elsewhere. If we were, for example, to plant a million trees in Ethiopia we might be able to completely offset Jersey’s carbon emissions,’ she said.
‘So, yes, we can look at doing this but I don’t think we should let Jersey off the hook in that way. Jersey needs to look at its own carbon emissions and work out how we can make things better here, rather then offsetting by planting trees elsewhere.
‘Carbon sinks have been looked at to see how much it would cost, so we can have that knowledge. But it is not something we are looking to do soon – I think we really need to focus our efforts in Jersey and what impact we can make here.’
The Deputy has previously campaigned for the government to better incentivise the use of renewable energy and to update its ageing electricity laws.
She said she would like to see the laws updated so the government has more power to monitor and intervene in the electricity market, which is changing due to the introduction of renewable energy, including more domestic power sources, such as solar panels.
‘Our electricity laws are based on 1937 laws and we have come on quite a bit since them, so they need to be updated,’ she said. ‘We need to think about these issues with the environment on the agenda now. We need to look at our policies and the government incentivising people in the right way. That’s a piece of work that’s probably going to take a couple of years.’
Environment Minister John Young has been tasked with carrying out work to assess how Jersey can achieve carbon neutrality as part of the 2020 government plan.
