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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