Mike Barry, head of sustainable business at UK retailer Marks & Spencer, has accused the coalition Government of creating uncertainty on green measures for business.
He said that recent policies had eroded certainty provided by the Climate Change Act 2008, and specifically pointed the finger at the 2010 move to turn the CRC Scheme that financially rewarded companies for increasing energy efficiency into a tax. The coalition also acted last year to cut solar power subsidies by half. Such steps have raised doubts over David Cameron's claims that this would be the "greenest Government ever".
Barry told the Guardian, "When the Climate Change Act came in, we welcomed it. We said this is exactly what business wants. It's tough and demanding. It gives us long-term route maps. If you look at what has happened in the last couple of years, the certainty of the Act has been replaced by the uncertainty of seeing the CRC come and be reinvented as a tax".
He also urged the Government to introduce a plastic bag charge in England, following the lead of Wales, where consumers pay 5p per bag as of last year. M&S introduced a 5p charge in 2008, leading to a reduction in bag usage of 78%, but Barry believes that further improvement will come with legislation.
M&S announced in June that it had become the first major retailer in the UK to make its operations carbon neutral.
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