An anti-TTIP march in Brighton. Flickr/Global Justice Now. Some rights reserved.In a widely shared article for openDemocracy UK in February, Caroline Lucas, MP, wrote: “To me, it’s obvious that being part of the EU makes sense when it comes to protecting our environment.” “Some of our dirtiest power stations have been closed thanks to EU directives” she wrote in an earlier piece for the Guardian. “In the hunt for climate criminals, anger is surely much better directed at our own prime minister.”
Prominent environmentalists are taking a similar line. The Guardian’s George Monbiot, for instance, argues that “what Cameron described in parliament as ‘pettifogging bureaucracy’ is the rules that prevent children from being poisoned by exhaust fumes, rivers from being turned into farm sewers.” “On jobs, health and wildlife”, he concludes, “the European Union is often all that stands between us and unfettered corporate power.” “The co-ordinated power of the union gives the ability to stand up to the amassed power of the world's biggest businesses”, openDemocracy UK’s Adam Ramsay agrees.
Looking at these arguments, and with the Green Party launching its “#GreenerIn” campaign, it is worth taking a critical look at the evidence and asking: how green is the European Union?
