VOICE were delighted to take part in the Friends of the Earth's program for government report card once again in  2024

This annual stock take is a valuable exercise in holding the coalition government to account for the work they agreed to do together to address climate and the environment.

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This year overall the government “scraped a B-” with gains in decarbonization efforts largely bringing the score up, but also significant achievements in the area of waste and circular economy.  

This comes as a result of 2 big ticket items getting ticked off the CE list of 11 actions ; the launch of the DRS and the production of the National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy. Two big achievements in the first half of 2024 to be sure.  

But in there is also the challenge, while creating a plan such as the NWMCE is no mean feat, implementing it can be significant as we saw with the DRS. What we have often seen to date is good talk but a lack of follow up or enforcement.

To give 3 examples,  we’ve been awaiting the levy on single use coffee cups for a number of years now despite numerous announcements, while certain plastic items are banned already (eg single use plastic cutlery) we still see so much available in public with little to no enforcement on the ban visible, and on tax reforms to encourage the efficient use of resources, the department has refused to look at VAT on reuse and repair¹.  

The government has scored well in producing plans and reports, most of what is left is implementation. This is not to downplay the work of reports and plans, they are a crucial aspect, but they are not an end of themselves, as the saying goes “Plans are useless, planning is essential”. And this is where the lessons of the DRS roll out can be helpful; societal behaviour change is a slow process that needs a lot of ongoing communication, but as we see the return rates increasing there is broad-based buy in to a new way of doing things.  

Overall the report points to great strides made in retrofitting as a key environmental win for the government. This highlights that individuals are taking actions where they can, what is needed is the government to follow through on the next steps, and implement those plans and reports in an ambitious manner, and not fall at the hurdle of business as usual.  

Remember this is what the government itself said it would aim to achieve, they’re getting a B- on a test they set for themselves, there is so much more work to do if we are to truly change our impact on the environment.  

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