Mike Calvert our Campaigns Manager writes about the climate emergency and how we urgently need Green solutions.
‘Events have not been kind to Greg Clark since he proclaimed the Conservatives’ leadership on climate change in an opinion in the Times of Tunbridge Wells last month. Not only were his claims comprehensively debunked by the Green Party’s John Hurst in a response a couple of weeks later, but Greg’s fellow Tory MP, Chris Skidmore, resigned over the government’s policy of allowing further licences to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea, forcing a by-election which the Tories lost. In his resignation letter he referenced the need to achieve net zero emissions and said: “there is no case to be made for increasing fossil fuel production at a time when investment should be made elsewhere, in the industries and businesses of the future, and not of the past.” Quite.
And now Friends of the Earth have uncovered documents showing that the government’s justification for approving a new coalmine in Cumbria, the supposed long term need for coal for steelmaking, conflicted with the advice ministers were receiving from their own officials that the steel industry would be decarbonised with “high certainty” by 2035 as the industry converted to production by electric arc furnaces.
Climate leadership at the national level is sadly lacking. But leadership is also needed at the local level. There is so much that could be achieved with the right vision and ambition.
For example, Lewes District Council (17 Green Councillors) has teamed up with six other local councils in their area to create a programme for insulating and installing renewable energy for 40,000 social housing homes across the region, using the purchasing power of councils working together to secure funding and commission work at favourable rates, while also generating local jobs. The programme has been so successful, it has been called the Lewes Model and proposed as a template for other councils. It is the sort of imaginative solution which our council in Tunbridge Wells should be exploring.
The Council also has leverage when approving new housing. It should make clear to developers that compliance with the internationally recognised Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency and sustainability will be an important factor in demonstrating that a proposed development satisfies the Council’s policy on sustainable design.
It’s not just about the Council. It is inspiring to see local businesses and stakeholders coming together in Tunbridge Wells in an organisation called Amplifi which seeks to pool ideas and experiences in promoting sustainable businesses. It’s a wonderfully collaborative initiative. And children at St James School have displayed banners urging passing motorists to turn off their engines when waiting at traffic lights.
But individual initiatives can only take us so far. We need more Green MPs and more Green councillors to hold our politicians to account, to stop backsliding on commitments, to contribute ideas and solutions. The same old parties with the same old thinking will not get us out of the climate emergency.
In this election year, more than ever, we need more Greens in the room. We have the solutions. But if we don’t vote for them, they won’t happen.’