The 1980s and 1990s have been the hottest decades since reliable records began. The global average temperature is now half a degree higher than in the mid-nineteenth century. The regional effects of such change are dramatic. Mountain glaciers are retreating, and a break-up of sea ice has been observed at the north and south poles. Rapid changes in sea temperature in warmer parts of the world’s oceans have disturbed marine ecosystems and caused mass die-off of coral reefs.

In the words of the UK Meteorological Office ‘there is clear observational evidence of…global-scale warming in this century’ and ‘anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases have been, and will increasingly be, a significant contributing factor’1.

In the UK, most electricity is still generated hundreds of miles from the homes and offices which require it, by old coal-fired stations using combustion technology developed in the 1950s. It is a dirty and wasteful process, and as a result the electricity supply industry is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the UK. Every unit of electricity consumed in the UK commits us further to climate change, and to an ensuing rise in extreme weather events.

The insurance industry has already had to pick up the bill for a steep rise in damage from extreme weather events. A spokesman for the UK insurers General Accident said that the ‘huge increase in weather-related losses should be attributed to lasting changes in weather patterns and not to a run of bad luck’2. In 1993, Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, called on governments, businesses and insurers alike to ‘take immediate action’ to address the ‘dramatic development of natural catastrophes...the threatened climatic changes demand urgent and drastic measures’.

The nuclear industry, once hailed as the answer to all our energy needs, has created its own set of insurmountable problems. There is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste, and unacceptable risks are posed by radioactive discharges, the potential for nuclear accidents and the spread of nuclear bomb making materials.