Environment

The UK government is working on a new five year strategy to follow on from the original 1999 version. Cue Jonathan Porritt, chair of its sustainable development advisory commission - who launched a savage broadside just as we were going to press. The Commission's own report on progress "Shows promise, but must try harder" did acknowledge some positives, notably on air quality and biodiversity. However much of the rest of the scorecard ranged from disappointing, through poor to dreadful in one case (road traffic).

Porritt took to the airwaves, decrying the fact that sustainable development is nowhere near the heart of government. It was an impressive breaking of the rule that the great and good on government commissions are supposed to keep the volume down. The Commission's report contains 20 specific challenges to government, backed up by plenty of bullet point actions needed. A devastating 40-page critique. But at the end of reading it one can't help feeling much of the blame is misplaced. Ultimately, if the UK misses the road traffic reduction targets or generates increasing volumes of waste, is it the government's fault, or do consumers and the companies that supply them have some responsibility too?