Government

UK could become ‘world leader’ in low-carbon technologies, says Labour

The UK could become the ‘world leader’ in low-carbon technologies and fighting climate change if the Labour Party were to run government, according to the party’s manifesto for 2015.

The manifesto, ‘Britain can be better’, released this week ahead of May’s General Election, makes no reference to the waste and resources sector, but claims that under Labour rule ‘scientific discovery and technological innovation will drive economic advancement’ and that Britain would become ‘a world leader in low carbon technologies over the next decade, creating a million additional green jobs’.

‘Ambitious carbon reduction targets’ would accompany this aim, including, the party says, ‘a legal target to remove the carbon from our electricity supply by 2030’.

Alongside this governmental focus on innovation, the party says it would give the Green Investment Bank additional powers to invest in green businesses and technology.

An Energy Security Board would also be created to plan and deliver a mix of energy sources including renewable, nuclear, green gas, carbon capture and storage, and clean coal.

Climate change

The manifesto highlights tackling climate change as an ‘economic necessity’ and says that the issue would be at ‘the heart of [Labour’s] foreign policy’.

The party would, it says, seek ‘an ambitious agreement’ at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in December, including:

  • ‘ambitious emissions targets for all countries, strengthened every five years on the basis of a scientific assessment’;
  • ‘a goal of net zero global emissions in the second half of this century’;
  • ‘transparent and universal rules for measuring, verifying and reporting emissions’; and
  • ‘an equitable deal in which richer countries provide support to poorer nations in combatting (sic) climate change’.

In addition to ‘mitigating the threat of climate change’, the manifesto also vows to ‘adapt to its damaging effects’ through a new Infrastructure Commission to prioritise investment in flood prevention, and through giving local authorities the powers they need to deal with air pollution.

Labour also highlighted that remaining within the European Union (EU) would be desirable for both the protection of the economy and the environment.

Labour ‘looking to international allies’ for reform

 

Launching the manifesto earlier this week, Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, spoke of the need for international leadership in facing issues like climate change. He said: “I believe in a Britain that looks outwards not inwards. That works with others in our national interest.

“So to tackle problems from terrorism to climate change and because we are at our best when we are confident in the world, our future lies inside not outside the European Union.

“We will work with our allies for reform. But there is no future for this country withdrawing from the world. And we will work with our allies across the world too, to face all the difficult issues that we need to in our national interest.”

No word on waste issues

The manifesto also mentions briefly the safeguarding of offshore oil and gas industries with ‘long-term strategy’, as well as committing to the construction of the High Speed Two rail development and airport expansion in the South East – noting the need for consideration of the environmental impact.

But there is nothing in the manifesto to indicate policies on waste, recycling or sustainability, despite Shadow Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mary Creagh promising in 2013 that Labour would introduce a ban on food going to landfill if it were to come into power in 2015. However, in January this year, the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls refuted these claims, stating that the commitment to ban food waste from landfill had been ‘superseded’ by a commitment to review resource security through a Stern-Review-style exercise.

There is, however, no mention of this review or resource security in the manifesto.

Speaking of the manifesto, External Affairs Director of the Recycling & Waste Recovery UK division of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT (formerly known as SITA UK), Gev Eduljee, said: “The Labour party manifesto makes no mention of our sector, instead concentrating its environmental pledges on carbon reduction and energy management in the context of combatting climate change. 

“A charitable reader might infer an oblique reference to our sector in Labour’s commitment to support the green economy, by creating a million new green jobs and by giving the Green Investment Bank “additional powers so that it can invest in green businesses and technology”, but that is about all.”

Environmental campaigning body Friends of the Earth stated that though “the manifesto includes some good environmental commitments”, it felt the party “is still too supportive of fossil fuels”. The group came to the same conclusion on the Liberal Democrat manifesto.

Read the full Labour Party manifesto, ‘Britain can be better’.

Related Articles