STANDING UP FOR GUERNSEY'S ENVIRONMENT
CANDIDATES
Thank you to all the candidates who completed the survey.
The puffin ratings below are based on their answers to the multiple choice questions we posed to them across three key issues, with four green puffins indicating the best answer down to 1 green puffin indicating the least environmentally friendly option. We did not factor the candidates' free form text answers (visible by clicking 'Read More' to get to their candidate page) into the ratings.
Candidates who did not engage with the survey received zero green puffins.
The States questions also contain informative environmental responses for some candidates:
Which statement best aligns to your views on the climate crisis?
We should reach net zero carbon emissions as early as possible (and no later than 2040), and take this opportunity to transform Guernsey into a climate leader and innovator.
Please let us know more about your perspective on the climate crisis in your own words.
Innovative technologies provide a way to secure energy independence, to develop emerging business opportunities that would help diversify the economy, as well as providing tertiarly level educational opportunities. It would be short-sighted to hang on the coat-tails of others when, given our small size and relative wealth, we have an opportunity to be world leadesr.
BIODIVERSITY LOSS
Which statement best aligns to your views on the challenges being faced by local biodiversity?
I believe urgent action is needed to save Guernsey's biodiversity, and the States should immediately invest more funding to protect it, introducing new legislation as appropriate.
Please let us know more about your views on the challenges faced by local biodiversity in your own words.
The case for the importance of biodiversity is increasing year on year as more and more research comes in. That idea that the issue should be urgent on a global scale but not a local scale is not easily argued. The amount of investment needed to make a real impact is minute in comparison to the over-all budget. Funding should, therefore, be prioritised.
CLIMATE EQUITY
Transitioning to a greener economy could result in major, potentially unequal, social and economic impacts. Which statement best reflects your view of how these should be managed?
We can do more than just avoid unfairness - we can and should use climate action as an opportunity to build a better, fairer society, for example, through green job creation and progressive funding solutions.
Please let us know more about your perspective on climate equity and transitioning to a greener economy in your own words.
The days when macroeconomic policy could be driven by the measurement of GDP have ended. Their is a duty under international law (reflecting our duty under moral law) to ensure that everyone in society is enabled to flourish. Their is a duty under moral law (and increasingly under international law) to do so without breaching local and planetory "ecological ceilings".
THE NEXT 4 YEARS
Where the environment is concerned, what outcomes do you think the States should achieve in the next four years, in your own words?
Realistically, I think we can have a coherent and coordinated twenty-year plan approved by the end of this political term so that implementation can begin immediately afterwards. This plan would cover the "big" issues; in the meantime, we could get on with a substantive number of smaller projects (e.g. reducing plastics, protecting biodiversity, increasing the use of renewable resources, greening supply lines, and the like).
