Demotix/ Peter Marshall. All rights reserved.The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour party comes as welcome news to many in the environmental movement.His Protecting our Planet manifesto contains significant pledges and a refreshing vision for a transformed economy. He supports the call for one million climate jobs, opposes fracking and handouts to dirty energy projects, acknowledges the need to keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground, and advocates a more democratic and cleaner energy system. He rightly maintains that “tackling climate change will only be effective if social justice is at the heart of the solutions we propose”.
Corbyn’s suggested policies are certainly imperfect, but they far outweigh those presented by the remaining Labour candidates, and clearly overshadow the myopic understanding of environmental action advanced by the Conservative Party.The current government, in little over a hundred days, has taken us back enormously in the fight for climate justice and a just low-carbon economy. Leading environmentalist Tony Juniper called the last few months “the worst period for environmental policy that I have seen in my 30 years’ work in this field.”
Fracking has been fast-tracked, with a fresh round of licenses granted for oil and gas exploration across the country. Standards for zero carbon homes have been scrapped. Funding has been pulled for the flagship Green Deal scheme to encourage energy efficiency in homes. As new investments in North Sea oil have been unveiled, support for onshore wind and solar energy has been axed. Over half of the Green Investment Bank is likely to be sold off. Ambitious renewable energy projects have been blocked, while mega gas-fired power stations have been approved. David Cameron’s key adviser on energy and climate policy is now an oil and gas consultant.
