Green groups urge leadership candidates to prioritise climate emergency\, but are they listening?

Green groups urge leadership candidates to prioritise climate emergency, but are they listening?

Alliance of 43 civil society groups call on Conservative and Liberal Democrat leadership candidates to explain how they intend to tackle escalating environmental threats

A group of 43 organisations, ranging from the National Trust and Greenpeace to CAFOD and the Women's Institute, have called on the next Prime Minister to clarify how they would tackle the climate crisis and publicly commit to prioritising environmental action.

In a letter to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leadership candidates orchestrated by the Greener UK alliance of environmental groups, the coalition of civil society groups urge Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Jo Swinson, and Ed Davey to prioritise the climate and environmental emergency and commit to ramping up policies and investment.

The letter references the four-point action plan presented at last month's 'Time is Now' mass lobby of parliament. It calls on MPs to deliver a flagship Environment Act, faster action to phase out fossil fuels and deliver a net zero emission economy by 2045 at the latest. It also urges increased investment in tackling the "climate and environmental emergency", and a renewed effort to put "environment and climate action at the heart of the UK's international agenda" by ruling out signing trade deals with countries that are not implementing the Paris Agreement or upholding human rights and environmental standards.

Green groups are increasingly concerned that an incoming Prime Minister could seek to water down the government's proposed Environment Act as they rush to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the US. The letter calls for the Act to include "ambitious legally binding targets for air, water, wildlife, waste and plastic, and our global footprint - and a powerful independent watchdog to make sure these are achieved".

Campaigners also fear the government will remain reluctant to mobilise the investment required to deliver the UK's new net zero emission goal, despite both Johnson and Hunt signalling their support for the legally-binding target. The letter calls for government spending of at least two per cent of GDP per year to be earmarked for climate action and restoring nature, both at home and abroad, starting now.

The demands set up this autumn's Spending Review as a major test of the new Prime Minister's commitment to the UK's net zero goal and wider green agenda.

Both Lib Dem candidates used Twitter to publicly back the letter's demands yesterday afternoon, while BusinessGreen understands that Hunt, who has previously said he wants the UK to be the greenest economy in Europe, has committed to engage with the coalition of green groups if he becomes Prime Minister. The group is awaiting a response from Johnson, although his supporters will point out that he was quick to endorse the UK's new net zero target.

 

 

 

The letter came as Environment Secretary Michael Gove yesterday delivered a wide-ranging speech stressing the immense scale of the climate and environmental crisis the world faces and setting out how "late as it may be, there is still time" to engineer an effective response. "The scale of action required may be daunting, but the need to act is imperative," he said.

Putting forward an agenda that covered every aspect of Defra's brief, Gove made the case for the rapid adoption of more ambitious policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions, enhance biodiversity protection, boost recycling rates, and improve air quality, including proposals for new clean air rules in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. As widely trailed ahead of the speech, he backed an ambitious plastic bottle deposit return scheme, and new building rules to boost biodiversity.

He also stressed the need for a wide-ranging Environment Bill, specifically calling for the legislation to deliver "a robust, legally sound, framework for a comprehensive and integrated set of environmental targets which taken together can 'bend the curve' on environmental decline".

The Environment Bill has reportedly been the subject of internal battles within government, with the Treasury said to be wary of legislation that would introduce demanding new targets and hand significant powers to a new environmental watchdog.

But in what could be his last major speech as Environment Secretary, Gove argued it was critical that the Bill strengthens environmental protection post-Brexit.

Significantly, he argued that the government's proposed Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) should have a "truly independent governance structure", should provide a free-to-use complaints system, should have the power to undertake its own investigations, and should have a role in enforcing climate change law, as well as wider environmental law.

"Of course, that role would have to protect the specialist advisory functions of the world-leading Committee on Climate Change," Gove explained. "But I am convinced that if we want a watchdog with teeth on every environmental issue it should be able to bite on climate change.

"An Act that combines compelling and comprehensive objectives with strong enforcement powers and policies to drive innovation and investment will, I hope, enable us to demonstrate appropriate leadership."

The comments were welcomed by Amy Mount of the Greener UK coalition, but she warned the onus was now on the next Prime Minister to deliver on Gove's plan.

"Michael Gove has thrown down the gauntlet to the next Prime Minister, rightly emphasising that legally binding targets and a strong independent watchdog are necessary if we are to address the environmental crisis," she said. "Yet the crucial decisions will still be made by Theresa May's successor, and all these great proposals could be scuppered with a disruptive no-deal Brexit or undermined by a hasty low-standards trade deal with the United States."

In his speech Gove insisted that he was confident both leadership candidates would prioritise environmental action. "Of course, it will be the new Prime Minister who will have the ultimate decision on the content of the Environment Bill but our party has collectively agreed it should be the flagship measure of the next Queen's Speech," he said. "And I am greatly encouraged that both candidates to be our next Prime Minister have made clear they will not dilute our environmental ambitions - indeed they would seek to raise it where possible."

He added that both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt "care deeply about our environment" and have a strong track record of environmental action. "I know that both would be great Prime Ministers and I want to affirm today that we can trust them both to do the right thing on every critical issue facing us all - and of course, most critically the environment," he said.

However, it remains to be seen whether Gove will stay in post as part of any new Cabinet or whether an entirely new team with new ideas and priorities is appointed to the key environmental posts at Defra, BEIS, Treasury, and Transport. As such green groups remain deeply concerned about the extent to which the new Prime Minister will prioritise climate and environmental action, especially as the Brexit negotiations and US trade talks step up a gear throughout the autumn.

As such MPs and business groups are keen to see an early signal from the new administration that it is prepared to take urgent steps to accelerate UK decarbonisation efforts, particularly after recent warnings from the Committee on Climate Change that the country is on track to miss its legally binding emissions targets.

Just hours after Gove's speech, acting Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore endured a bruising session in front of the BEIS Select Committee yesterday afternoon, as he was pushed repeatedly on the delays to the government's imminent Energy White Paper, failure to do more to tackle aviation emissions, and lack of progress in delivering carbon capture projects at scale.

Skidmore defended the government's net zero by 2050 target, but suggested a five year review mechanism could allow for it to be brought forward in the future. "This could be used to move towards 2045 at a later stage if we felt that technologies had advanced and we had the ability to move further, faster," he said.

He also pushed back against proposals for a Frequent Flier Levy to tackle aviation emissions, arguing that improvements in aircraft efficiency provided a more effective route for tackling emissions and that he was wary of creating a "hostile environment for bearing down on individual freedom".

In addition, he acknowledged the government had "begun late" on delivering carbon capture usage and storage technologies (CCUS) and needs "to do more", insisted the manifesto commitment to halt subsidies for onshore wind "remains intact", and suggested the Energy White Paper would be published this summer.

There had been speculation the document could be released this week and would likely contain sweeping new proposals designed to mobilise investment in new nuclear, CCUS, and domestic energy efficiency projects. But reports over the weekend suggested the Treasury was reluctant to sign off on the plan ahead of next week's announcement of the new Prime Minister.

From Gove's green master plan to the immediate prospects for many of the UK's critical low carbon industries, much depends on the whims and priorities of the soon to be announced new occupant of Number 10. Unfortunately, as the leadership race enters its final few days it remains unclear where the candidates stand on raft of crucial environmental and economic policy issues. Across the green economy, businesses and investors will be hoping Gove is right when he insists the new Prime Minister will not dilute the UK's environmental ambitions.