chancellor Rachel Reeves has reportedly been accused by environmental experts of putting the climate at risk with high carbon projects including the expansion of Heathrow airport.
The chancellor made airports the central focus of her plan for growth, despite having previously promised to be the first green chancellor and having extolled the benefits of green growth.
Environmental leaders have asked her to recommit to green growth, such as the renewable economy and green public transport, rather than expanded aviation and new roads.
Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity and a major donor to the Labour party, said: “New runways are a mistake; we don’t need them. This is the old economy, it grew 0.1% last year while the green one grew 9%. This is where the biggest opportunity for growth is, and it’s sustainable in all senses of the word. That’s the right kind of growth.”
Reeves did commit to a rail project, promising to create what she described as “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge, and giving support for a railway between the two university cities.
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Shaun Spiers, executive director at the thinktank Green Alliance, said: “The chancellor is right to focus on economic renewal, but we cannot have growth at any cost. The economic case for bigger airports and new roads is highly questionable, and it’s crystal clear that pushing ahead with these will fly in the face of the UK’s climate targets. Rachel Reeves recognises that the low carbon economy offers ‘the industrial opportunity of the 21st century’; we should grasp this rather than chasing high-carbon, high-risk projects.”
Dr Doug Parr, head of policy at Greenpeace UK, suggested other growth-boosting measures the chancellor could adopt instead: “It’s not a ‘growth at all costs’ approach that will get us to a better economic future. Instead of picking up any old polluting project from the discard pile, the chancellor should focus on industries that can attract investment and bring wider economic and social benefits.
“These include upgrading our power grid, railways and housing while growing the renewables revolution and spearheading innovation in green steel, electric vehicles and batteries.”
Reeves did say the airport would not go ahead without meeting climate objectives: “We will then take forward a full assessment through the airport national policy statement. This will ensure that the project is value for money, and our clear expectation is that any associated surface transport costs will be financed through private funding, and it will ensure that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.”
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
