There is a cross-party consensus on the need for urgent action to combat the climate emergency. Since taking office, Rishi Sunak has established a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and made several climate announcements at a recent ‘green day’. Meanwhile, Labour has pledged to invest £28bn in green energy, in addition to banning new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea.
Whoever leads the next government, climate change be high up the agenda, but both political and fiscal pressures will constrain how much they are likely to commit to. But even limited action can go a long way, and there is hope in sight for the UK’s climate policy. Examining which solutions the government should prioritise will be an important stage of the political debate.
The Bylines Network Debate for Progress on 13 June will present a few options of what the next government should prioritise to tackle the climate emergency. Tickets can be booked for free on the event webpage.
The panel
Carla Denyer
Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, will be speaking on housing and insulation:
“The UK has some of the least energy efficient homes in Western Europe. As a result, 19% of the UK’s entire carbon footprint comes from heating, cooling and powering our buildings. A nationwide home insulation programme would not only reduce carbon emissions but give everyone warmer, more comfortable homes that are healthier to live in and cheaper to run.
“The technical solutions are already available, but government needs to provide supportive and stable government policy, and build up a skilled retrofit workforce. This should be a top priority.”
Wera Hobhouse
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, and the party’s spokesperson for energy and climate change and transport, will be speaking on energy:
“My party’s policy from 2019 is for the UK to be net zero by 2045. This means that fossil fuels will be staying in the ground and we will power our homes, our production and our economy with renewables. Renewables will be electricity from wind, solar and marine and excess power can be converted to green hydrogen for a different power source and for making synthetic fuels.
“The most important change for government is to remove all barriers to new renewables. This means no limit on the ambition for wind, solar and marine power in the UK and no barriers for grid expansion. Our policy requires us to phase out fossil fuels in transport, heating and industrial processes. Most of this can be done in the next decade if we make it a political priority. We should adopt the mindset of overproducing renewable power, as this will be the game changer for climate action across Europe. Once renewable power is cheap because it is overproduced, everyone will switch.”
Ryan Jude
Ryan Jude, programme director at the Green Finance Institute, Labour Party councillor for Lancaster Gate, and deputy cabinet member – climate action and biodiversity, at Westminster City Council, will be speaking on green finance:
“The priority of the next government must be to ensure we mobilise enough green finance to meet our climate goals – through proper regulation of the private sector, ambitious, targeted public spending, and fiscal incentives. Finance underpins every climate ambition we have: decarbonisation of our housing stock, building our EV supply chain, nature restoration, net-zero and resilient grid, and much more.
“The Committee on Climate Change says we must mobilise £50bn p/a of climate finance from 2030 to meet our domestic net zero targets, but currently we manage around one fifth of this. The next government can solve this, through ambitious public capital spending, such as Labour’s £28bn p/a Green Prosperity Plan pledge, alongside regulations such as the green taxonomy and tracking green financial flows.”
Leo Murray
Leo Murray, co-founder and director of innovation and engagement at Possible, will be speaking on transport:
“One-third of the UK’s carbon emissions come from transport. Transport emissions are almost no lower today than they were in 1990. The basic reason for this is the extreme aversion of successive governments to act to reverse the deliberate process of the motorisation of British society, which has characterised transport policymaking for the past 75 years and has left much of the country trapped in car dependency with no meaningful alternative mobility options.
“Happily, not only do we need to drastically reduce our car use to reach climate targets, but our aim of fewer cars on the road will help people live healthier and happier lives too. Each individual private car on the road represents convenience for its owner – but disaster for the communities it is used in and for the national interest as a whole. This must be the priority for government decarbonisation plans over the next decade.”
The event
The event will be held on Zoom, starting promptly at 6pm. Attendees can register to join on the event webpage.
Attendees will be asked to vote for their favourite idea at the start and end of the event, both measuring the popularity of each initial idea along how the debate has shaped people’s views.
They will also be encouraged to ask speakers questions after their opening statement.
