John explains how we’re different to the other parties on climate change.
‘The Green Party believes that whether we’re in opposition making sure that Labour do the right thing, or whether even in power, we need to stop developing any more oil and gas, and also cancel the recently-approved Rosebank field. We don’t need any more oil, we’ll soon have far too much. Then we’ll help everybody to insulate their homes, to make them nice and warm and cosy at a lower running cost, and also help people to install fossil-free heating systems, such as the heat pump which you see behind me here. We don’t think the current Government is doing anywhere near enough, and we’re not at all sure that Labour will either. So if you really want hope for the future, and hope of real change, on the 4th July – Vote Green!’
Transition to a decarbonised economy – from our 2024 Manifesto
The election is taking place against the background of a climate emergency. Since the last election, there have been an increasing number of days and months in which global temperature increases have breached 1.5 degrees Celsius, an increase that would make human life on earth unliveable.
Despite commitments from the United Nations, national and local governments, corporations and individuals, greenhouse gas emissions are still rising. And our understanding of what this means is increasing too: we know that the social and economic impacts of climate breakdown are already being felt and will continue to be far worse than previously imagined.
As a political party, we believe in offering hope. And we believe in following the science and speaking the truth, too.
Our manifesto sets out what we think is achievable given the failure of successive governments to prepare with anything like the urgency and ambition that climate scientists have been telling us is needed for decades.
The current UK commitment to net zero by 2050 fails to reflect that we can – and must – do so much more. That we can and must make the right political choices in order to transition at speed to a decarbonised economy. One that’s no longer in hock to the fossil fuel giants, but instead runs on clean, green and cheap renewables. An economy in which it’s cheaper to heat our homes, to get out and about and to run a business.
And our manifesto sets out too how fairness can and must run through every part of the change that’s coming – from training the new workforce that will be needed to transform our economy, to investing in our vital public services, to lifting all of us up through a compassionate welfare system.
The solutions to the climate crisis are the same as those needed to end the cost of living and inequality crises, making the future not just more liveable but fairer for us all too. Throughout our manifesto, you’ll find examples of how climate action means better public services, warmer homes, stronger communities and a restored natural world.