9 December 2020

• Jonathan Bartley: “This plan would take some of the radical, but absolutely necessary, steps the UK needs to make to play its part in ensuring the world stays within the 1.5C warming limit it agreed to five years ago”

The Green Party has set out a climate programme of real ambition as the UK government continues to fail to deliver on its promises ahead of the five year anniversary of the Paris Agreement.[1]

While the UK remains nowhere near achieving the targets it signed up to at the historic UN climate summit in Paris in 2015, the Greens have set out  ten priority policies to match the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. [2]

Green Party leader Jonathan Bartley said:

“This is what real climate ambition looks like.

“The Conservative government has failed to propose a detailed plan so we are putting forward what should be included in a climate plan of real ambition.

“The government has had five years to make good on the promises it made in Paris. It has so far done next to nothing.

“This plan would take some of the radical, but absolutely necessary, steps the UK needs to make to play its part in ensuring the world stays within the 1.5C warming limit it agreed to five years ago.”

The plan includes:

• A carbon tax of £100 per tonne of carbon dioxide rising to £500 by 2030
• Develop offshore and onshore wind to provide at least 100 GW of electricity by 2030. This should provide around 70% of the UK’s electricity demand by this time
• Government investment to improve the insulation of every home that needs it and provide major heating upgrades and the highest standard of energy efficiency for one million homes a year.
• Stop all airport expansion, apply carbon tax to aviation fuel and introduce a Frequent Flyer Levy as part of a drive to reduce air miles by 70% by 2030.
• Cancel the hugely carbon intensive road-building programme including the A303 at Stonehenge and the Lower Thames Crossing, take all fossil fuel cars and vans off the road by 2030 and invest in public transport, active travel and support for disabled people to reduce car miles by 50% by 2030
• Increase land for forests and woodlands by planting 700 million trees by 2030 and encourage the restoration of peatland through new subsidies to capture carbon and protect nature

The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has today published its sixth carbon budget, which sets out the volume of greenhouse gases the UK can emit between 2033 and 2037 if it is to remain on track to reach net zero by 2050. [3]

Bristol Green Party Councillor Carla Denyer, who proposed the UK’s first climate emergency motion, said:

“The government has so far failed to meet any of its targets to reach net zero by 2050 – a target which in itself may not be enough to address runaway climate change.

“Even worse, in many areas they are going in the wrong direction. We should be looking to swiftly reduce the amount of travel that is necessary by car, yet this government is going ahead with its £27 billion road building project.”

“Meanwhile, thousands of people across the country are living in fuel poverty this winter, unable to afford to heat their homes. This simply should not be happening. The Green Party’s plan to provide insulation and heat pumps would mean such inequalities would be a thing of the past.

“It is only the Green Party that is putting forward the bold and ambitious plans to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions as quickly as is feasible and provide new opportunities for everyone to live happier and more secure lives.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement

2

A full breakdown of the Green Party’s 10 point plan for climate is available here:

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Communications/10_Point_Climate_Plan.pdf

3

https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/sixth-carbon-budget/

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9 December 2020

The Committee on Climate Change has today published its Sixth Carbon Budget for the years 2033 to 2037. [1]

In response to the report, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: 

“The science is indisputable and we know what the Government needs to do but so far we’ve not seen the ambitious, consistent leadership the CCC emphasises is necessary to make sure positive, feasible and affordable changes happen.   

“Instead we have a Prime Minister who talks the talk but is barely on his feet, let alone walking or running towards the better future we know is possible. And the Chancellor doesn’t even seem to have read the climate crisis memo. So we get a piecemeal 10-point climate action plan from the Prime Minister one week, which is followed up by climate inaction in the Spending Review a week later. The Treasury needs to be shaken out of its climate torpor because it is holding back the essential transition to a low-carbon future.   

“The climate emergency has to be made the top priority across the whole of government. We must take full responsibility for our overseas emissions and help others transition fast to a zero-carbon economy, rather than holding them back them by financing fossil fuel infrastructure overseas.  

“That is the climate leadership the Prime Minister frequently boasts of, but has yet to deliver.”

ENDS

Notes

1

Building back better – Raising the UK’s climate ambitions for 2035 will put Net Zero within reach and change the UK for the better

In response to the report, Caroline Lucas said: 

“The science is indisputable and we know what the Government needs to do but so far we’ve not seen the ambitious, consistent leadership the CCC emphasises is necessary to make sure positive, feasible and affordable changes happen.   

“Instead we have a Prime Minister who talks the talk but is barely on his feet, let alone walking or running towards the better future we know is possible. And the Chancellor doesn’t even seem to have read the climate crisis memo. So we get a piecemeal 10-point climate action plan from the Prime Minister one week, which is followed up by climate inaction in the Spending Review a week later. The Treasury needs to be shaken out of its climate torpor because it is holding back the essential transition to a low-carbon future.  

“The climate emergency has to be made the top priority across the whole of government. We must take full responsibility for our overseas emissions and help others transition fast to a zero-carbon economy, rather than holding them back them by financing fossil fuel infrastructure overseas.  

“That is the climate leadership the Prime Minister frequently boasts of, but has yet to deliver.”  

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6 December 2020

• Jenny Jones: “The Government is trying to bulldoze democracy by saying that capitalism and big business are more important than the will of the people”

Green Party peers have said parliament must be allowed scrutiny of post-Brexit trade deals as the government’s Trade Bill returns to the House of Lords for debate tomorrow.[1]

The Greens have also set out how the bill must include the existing strong protections for the environment, workers’ rights and food safety.

Green peer Jenny Jones said it was vital to protect democracy by ensuring parliamentary scrutiny of trade deals.

Baroness Jones said:

“The Government is trying to bulldoze democracy by saying that capitalism and big business are more important than the will of the people. 

“Unlike the US Congress and EU Parliament, whose members are heavily involved throughout the whole process of trade negotiations, the UK Government is trying to keep Parliament in the dark with very little control over the trade deals that we sign. 

“As Greens, we believe that the market and the economy should serve the people, not make us the servants. 

“That’s why we have been fighting for strong parliamentary scrutiny of trade deals, involving Parliament in setting negotiating mandates, and culminating in each deal being put to a meaningful vote in parliament.”

Green peer Natalie Bennett warned it was vital the bill included strong protections for people and planet.

Baroness Bennett said:

“Too often, trade deals are used to undermine the important protections for the environment, workers’ rights and food safety. 

“That is why we have been fighting for the Trade Bill to have strong protections for people and the planet, so that we can work together with other countries to improve rather than destroy.

“But ultimately we need to work towards the kind of model being developed in New Zealand, Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and Fiji, their proposed Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability. That is seeking to ensure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, rather than as too much of our trade does, threatening them.” [2]

ENDS

Notes

1

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2729

2

https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/climate/agreement-on-climate-change-trade-and-sustainability-accts-negotiations/

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4 December 2020

• Greens warn idea of EU bringing late proposals “misleading”

The Greens have criticised government ministers for “anti-diplomatic” comments in recent days, after it was reported that a UK government source had suggested the prospect of a deal was “receding”.[1]

Molly Scott Cato, Green Party Brexit spokesperson and former MEP, said:

“From Jacob Rees-Mogg holding Brexit responsible for the record speed of a vaccine certification process actually undertaken under EU rules, to the toe-curling embarrassment of Gavin Williamson’s comment about the UK being a ‘much better country’ than others, we have seen the government’s Brexit out-riders out in force in recent days.

“Conservatives have honed this sort of anti-diplomacy to an art-form in recent years but fail to understand that we will always be part of Europe and that our relationship with our close neighbours will continue to be of vital importance after 1 January.

“Greens have always argued for us to keep as close as possible to the EU single market and we continue to champion being at the heart of Europe.” 

Commenting on EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourova’s statement that the Brexit referendum was skewed by “fake news” [2], Scott Cato said:

“The process of Brexit has been dominated by propaganda and disinformation from the start. So their suggestion that the EU has somehow thrown new and unreasonable demands into the negotiations at this late stage is par for the course. 

“But it is also untrue and impossible according to the legal process being followed by the Council, the member states and the EU Parliament.

“What we are seeing is the UK government engaging in damaging theatrics to prepare the public for a truly dreadful deal. Far from being oven-ready, the deal is still incomplete which leaves no time for businesses to prepare for the end of the transition period.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55182450

2

Commissioner Jourova’s comments are reported here: 

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/12/04/eu-says-dirty-methods-used-in-brexit-campaign/

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4 December 2020

• Jonathan Bartley: “Time is running out. We must see tangible plans and meaningful action being taken to go net zero across every single sector, including housing, transport and agriculture”

Responding to the government’s new climate targets of reducing emissions by 68% over this decade, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said:

“While any raising of ambition from the government is welcome, there is no time for empty promises. We need to see immediate action, and a clear plan for the next five years, rather than new pledges, without plans for delivery, that can only be delivered by their successors.

“The government has had four years since it signed the Paris Agreement, which committed it to try to limit temperature rise to 1.5C. This can only be achieved by reaching net zero by 2030 – something that it is nowhere near achieving. It isn’t even on track for 2.0C.

“Time is running out. We must see tangible plans and meaningful action being taken to go net zero across every single sector, including housing, transport and agriculture. Without this, more pledges only leave the difficult decisions – such as constraining aviation, electrifying our heating and transport systems, and moving to plant-based diets – to future politicians. 

“We have seen from the recent spending review that the government does not understand the extent of the action that is required in this climate emergency. A true Green New Deal, implemented immediately, would reduce emissions and create millions of sustainable Green jobs, protecting the future for us all and for generations to come.”

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