Green Promises: Labour’s Environmental Manifesto

~ By Leen Abdulgalil~

As the climate crisis looms darker and darker on the horizon, Labour’s 2024 manifesto has laid out a comprehensive set of policies, aiming to hasten the UK’s journey towards sustainability. The Labour party agrees that the climate and nature crisis is the greatest long-term global challenge we face and that firm environmental policies are necessary to secure the future. However, their main promises merit a closer look.

A key aim at the heart of Labour’s strategy is to completely decarbonise and achieve clean power by 2030. Though an ambitious goal, Labour claims that, in order to succeed, they will work with the private sector to ‘double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind’, all the while investing in carbon capture and storage. Planning to invest £7.3bn to maintain Britain’s goal of net zero by 2050, Labour intends to ensure ‘long-term security’. A key component to this according to the manifesto, is the development of new nuclear power stations such as Sizewell C.

Labour also has policies aimed at protecting nature, planning to work with civil society, communities and businesses to protect the natural beauty in England. For example, Labour intends to establish three new National Forests, nine new River Walks and plant millions of trees. The party also plans to put a stop to the rampant illegal sewage dumping that occurred under the conservatives. To force a clean-up of Britain’s coasts, rivers and lakes, Labour intends to give regulators power to stop executive bonuses to those who are breaking the law and carry criminal charges against polluting companies.

Environmental experts have commented on Labour’s environmental plans for its ‘forward thinking approach’. Rebeccas Newsom, Greenpeace UK’s Head of Politics stated, “Labour set out a clear vision for a bright future with lower bills and clean energy, while generating hundreds of thousands of jobs and cutting emissions – helping to tackle the climate crisis. Meanwhile, the Conservatives’ divisive proposal will deliver the very opposite. More fossil fuels, more toxic air pollution and more climate-wrecking emissions that will hit the poorest hardest.” This support from an organisation such as Greenpeace highlights the manifesto’s ability to drive real change.

However, despite making these lofty promises, Labour may face some challenges in implementing these ambitious policies. Firstly, many have argued that Labour needs to provide clearer funding strategies for the massive spending required to establish green infrastructure and fuel an industrial transformation. Even disregarding the substantial investment required, the transition to renewable energy may face resistance from industries reliant on fossil fuels who fear job losses and increased cost of operations. Labour intends to mitigate this through green jobs initiative but the speed of this is questionable. To many, to aim of clean power by 2030 is unfeasible and James Muray, a leading commentator on the low carbon economy, remarked ‘Some key parts of Labour’s manifesto are deliberately light on detail.’

Labour claims that they will ‘end the climate and energy chaos, turn the page on 14 years of failed policies and make Britain a clean energy superpower.’ But whether this is true, only time will tell.