The report has added importance when placed alongside the current plans of the coalition to relax the UK’s planning laws and give developers the chance to start developing the formerly protected greenfield sites. The panel also pointed out what it referred to as the ‘heartfelt connections’ between the UK people and their publicly owned forests, something that the Conservative environment secretary, Caroline Spelman failed to take into account and which led to her embarrassing u-turn on the policy of selling off the forests.

In addition the panel noted that the Forestry Commission, which Spelman wants to abolish, is constantly proving itself to be an ‘exemplar of managing land for social, environmental and economic benefits.’ The panel signed off with a poignant warning that woodland policy needs to be depoliticised, because ‘electoral timescales won’t match the lifespan of trees.’

Tony Burke, Australia’s environment minister noted of the plans that:

“Australia’s vast oceans provide a source of food and resources, and are a place of recreation. But we cannot afford to be complacent … In the space of one lifetime, the world’s oceans have gone from being relatively pristine to being under increasing pressure. The environmental significance of the Coral Sea lies in its diverse array of coral reefs, sandy cays, deep sea plains and canyons. It contains more than 20 outstanding examples of isolated tropical reefs, sandy cays and islands.”

The plans have been universally applauded by green groups around the world although some have expressed a desire for the ‘no take’ areas to be larger. Nature.com pointed out that the ‘British government’s reserve around the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean is 544,000 km2 and is entirely no-take, making it the largest no-take marine reserve in the world’. Nevertheless, most groups accept that the importance lies in strategic placement of the no take areas, so that they are able to function as fish nurseries, allowing spawning and breeding.

The EPIA study performed an extensive analysis of the French, German, Italian, Spanish and British energy markets before arriving at its 2020 date for total cost parity. The report points out that the cost of solar pv panels has decreased year on year for over 20 years and that this drop in price should continue to a further 50% by the close of the decade. The EPIA estimates that depending on the regulatory and market conditions PV solar electricity will be costing in the region of 0.08 and .018 Euros. What this would mean is solar power would be cheaper than the price for coal generated energy. Coal generated energy at this time costs about 0.09 Euros and that price is predicted to rise when the tighter regulations on carbon emissions kick in.

Finally, the report also predicts that Italy will be the first of the European nations to achieve this cost parity, and that other nations will need to extend their support of solar technologies if they are to keep up, as well as getting rid of market distortions. This referred to the Feed in Tariffs in place in countries like the UK which had proven to be successful but which were under threat thanks to the short-sightedness of the new conservative government. The report pointed out that in order for all energy production technologies to operate on a level playing field subsidies for coal, nuclear and gas would need to be reduced (or removed completely) too.