STEPHANIE Evans, a 22-year-old law graduate, has been named the first winner of the Colin Donald Prize for an environmental law essay.
She won the competition, run by the National Trust for Scotland and law firm McGrigors, with an essay on the relationship between renewable energy and the aim of sustainable development in Scotland.
In this exclusive extract for The Scotsman,
Stephanie discusses the implementation of the "polluter pays" principle
THE polluter pays principle is a component of sustainable development that has been incorporated into the Scottish renewable energy policy.
It envisages that the polluter should pay for damage caused by pollution or bear the costs of carrying out pollution prevention measures. The latter internalises the costs of pollution so that the price of goods and services reflect the true cost of production, including costs related to pollution, environmental harm and resource degradation.
These measures are to encourage rational use of scarce environmental resources to avoid adverse economic implications.
In accordance with the idea that the polluter should pay for damage caused by pollution, Ofgem may impose appropriate sanctions, including a fine where there is non-compliance with the Renewables Obligation Scotland (ROS).
Additionally, to encourage a low carbon economy, the Climate Change Levy (CCL) was implemented in the UK. The economic and political advantages include job growth and economic investment and it is evident the climate change levy prioritises economic and social considerations over environmental considerations.
This is demonstrated by the fact that the CCL applies to energy consumed in the public, commercial and agricultural sectors only, instead of applying to much higher emissions caused by the generation of household electricity.
The economic implications of imposing a CCL at domestic level were seen as too grave a risk.
Benjamin Richardson, of York University, argues that the exemption for the transport and household sectors means the levy will not enable long-term emission reductions. This could potentially result in a failure on the part of the UK to meet Kyoto targets.
It is evident that the polluter pays principle has been incorporated into our energy policy, but the economic climate in which renewables have emerged sits uneasily with the idea that delivery of sustainable energy supplies should be provided at a cost that does not cause damage and social regression.
The ROS is an illustration of such an obstacle, in that the regulatory burden imposed by it means that in order to provide additional support for the generation of electricity from renewable sources, costs to all electricity consumers are increased.
This could result in a disincentive for environmentally beneficial behaviour, as it penalises people who perform environmental services.
Beyond this, proposals by Ofgem to change the cost of connecting to the national grid would make it more expensive for generators located away from population centres.
This could be potentially detrimental to areas where the best resources are located, for example the Western Isles which has huge potential because of their natural resources for wind, wave and tidal power.
