Organised as part of the Manchester International Festival, July 4th and 5th saw key environmental thinkers discussing, in a free and open event, potential solutions to the problem of climate change and global warming. With question time allotted to those who participated in the audience for the discussions, The Manchester Report acted as a forum in which those who are concerned about global warming and climate change – from audiences to experts – had a chance to propagate their views.

The Manchester International Festival website summarises the aim and ethic of the Manchester Report, and the democratic structure of the event itself:

“Manchester was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution which boosted fossil-fuel use, so it is only fitting that the city should take up the challenge of spearheading efforts to address climate change. Manchester International Festival and The Guardian invited scientists, engineers, campaigners and members of the public to submit their climate-saving ideas during May 2009. A short-list of 20 of the most promising applicants have been invited to present their ideas, which involve everything from algae to cloud seeding to hydrogen fuel. “

The presentations and findings, plus the questions and discussions, are what will form the eventual Manchester Report, leading to a genuinely all inclusive report which will represent a diverse range of interests and opinions.

Energy Bonds – An Interesting Proposal from the Manchester Report Discussions

Of the twenty ideas proposed, one in particular has been picked up, partly because of its radicalism and partly because of its potential, as an interesting potential solution to some of the world’s climate change and global warming problems. Proposed by the Welsh think tank, The Public Interest Research Centre, the suggestion details a system under which the British government could sell energy bonds – modelled on the war bonds scheme of the 1940s – as a way to raise money for renewable energy sources, and as a way to galvanise support for the implementation of renewable energy.

The thinking behind the proposal is that a move to renewable energy will come at great economic and cultural cost, and that the movement is more viable if it is one that includes the social, communal element that a bond scheme can provide.

Head of the Public Research Interest Centre, Tim Helweg-Larsen, summarised the idea:

“To finance renewable energy on the scale required, Britain is going to need hundreds of billions of pounds. Energy bonds are a way to unlock large amounts of money from individuals and institutional investors…Make no mistake, this is an incredibly expensive project, but it also has very good rates of return on investments. We should be creating the opportunity for the people of Britain to invest in their own future and a secure climate”.

With some arguing that the only way New Labour can save itself from election disaster is to begin a process of social investment, the energy bonds scheme could prove to be genuinely appealing. Certainly, there is an argument to say that a social inclusion in a move towards renewable energy is either a necessary, or massively desirable, route towards a genuine solution to the problem of carbon emissions in the UK.

The problem, though, could be that the process could clash with moves made by New Labour to part-privatise a number of previously nationalised British industries; sceptics have already argued that the scheme could require the UK government to re-nationalise, for example, a number of energy companies. This would be a radical step, and renders, in the eyes of some, the energy bonds scheme impractical.

The findings from the two days are will be published as The Manchester Report in the run up to the Copenhagen climate change summit.

For further information on The Manchester Report, please visit the website.

A Guardian Report on the Festival.