2009/11/05 19:34 | 5.7 | 127 | |
| 2009/11/05 17:56 | 3.6 | Local | |
| 2009/11/05 17:38 | 4.7 | 126 | |
| 2009/11/05 17:32 | 6.0 | 125 |
In other environmentally seismic news a judge in the UK has ruled that a person's environmental beliefs such as climate change belief are equal to religious and philosophical beliefs. This makes it possible ...
for employees to sue their companies for failing to account for their green lifestyles, such as providing recycling facilities or offering low-carbon travel.Can we see the start here of 'motivational' factors introduced to the market that will encourage businesses to take operating sustainably seriously? Here's the background:
The decision regards Tim Nicholson, former head of sustainability at property firm Grainger plc, who claims he was made redundant in July 2008 due to his "philosophical belief about climate change and the environment".
In March, employment judge David Heath gave Mr Nicholson permission to take the firm to tribunal over his treatment. But Grainger challenged the ruling on the grounds that green views were political and based on science, as opposed to religious or philosophical in nature.
John Bowers QC, representing Grainger, had argued that adherence to climate change theory was "a scientific view rather than a philosophical one", because "philosophy deals with matters that are not capable of scientific proof."
That argument has now been dismissed by Mr Justice Burton, who last year ruled that the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore was political and partisan.
The decision allows the tribunal to go ahead, but more importantly sets a precedent for how environmental beliefs are regarded in English law.
Mr Nicholson, 42, from Oxford, told a previous hearing that his views were so strong that he refused to travel by air and had renovated his house to be environmentally-friendly.
But his beliefs led to frequent clashes with Grainger's other managers, while he said that Rupert Dickinson, the firm's chief executive, treated his concerns with "contempt".
Once Mr Dickinson flew a member of staff to Ireland to deliver his Blackberry mobile phone after leaving it in London, Mr Nicholson claimed.
Mr Nicholson hailed the Employment Appeals Tribunal ruling as "a victory for common sense" but stressed climate change was "not a new religion".
He said: "I believe man-made climate change is the most important issue of our time and nothing should stand in the way of diverting this catastrophe.
"This philosophical belief that is based on scientific evidence has now been given the same protection in law as faith-based religious belief.
"Belief in man-made climate change is not a new religion, it is a philosophical belief that reflects my moral and ethical values and is underlined by the overwhelming scientific evidence."
