Labour party members have backed a pledge to reduce greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2030 – two decades earlier than the government’s current target.
The commitment is part of the Green New Deal motion which delegates at the party’s conference in Brighton voted to adopt by an “overwhelming majority” earlier today (24 September).
The motion says that a Labour government would work towards a path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, which would be enshrined into law.
The motion pledges “large scale” investment in renewables and low-carbon energy together with public ownership of energy, including Britain’s biggest energy suppliers. This goes beyond the policy in Labour’s 2017 manifesto, which promised to renationalise the energy networks.
Another less radical motion backing the Green New Deal, which was sponsored by the GMB union that represents many energy workers, was also passed.
This stops short of calling for emissions to be cut to net zero by 2030 and calls for the introduction of departmental carbon budgets, which would be vetted by the Committee on Climate Change and overseen by the Treasury, together with a cross government climate emergency spending review.
Earlier during the debate on the motion, shadow business and energy secretary Rebecca Long Bailey had announced plans for a Labour government to build and take a majority stake in 37 new offshore windfarms by 2030.
She said this would deliver a seven-fold increase in offshore turbines in twelve years.
Long Bailey also said, following shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s promise at the weekend of 2.5 million interest free loans for the purchase of EVs, to introduce a vehicle scrappage scheme to take 400,000 of the dirtiest cars off our roads.
And she said that the 100 per cent of the government car fleet would be electric by 2025, equating to 70,000 vehicles. To facilitate this roll out of EVs, she said the government would invest £3.6 billion into building charging networks, with 72,000 charging banks, in towns and along motorways.
Lauren Townsend, trade unionist and spokesperson for Labour for a Green New Deal, said: “The Labour movement has voted to take leadership on the climate emergency with a response which puts people and planet before profit.
“Now the ambition has been set, it is time for our movement to come together to build a Green New Deal from the ground up in every town, village and city.”
A spokesperson for Energy UK said: “We welcome the ambition being shown by Labour on decarbonisation and as an industry we are ready to lead further progress which will deliver benefits for the environment, the economy and customers.
“The UK energy sector is undergoing a rapid transition with half of our electricity generation now from low carbon sources but we must go further and faster, which is why we have been calling a new net-zero test to ensure all new government policies support rather than undermine the net-zero commitment.
“Meeting net-zero will require significant investment by private markets and a sustainable retail sector to continue to innovate and bring the benefits of a future smart energy system to customers.
“Private investment in energy, which was £13.1 billion last year, has revolutionised the industry, creating a power sector that has been world-leading in decarbonization, while creating green jobs, boosting economic growth and delivering increased choice and reducing costs for customers.”
A spokesperson for the Energy Networks Association commented:“To meet the challenge of net zero as quickly as possible, it’s imperative that we don’t waste valuable time and resources on redesigning a system that’s been proven to work. Private investment has helped make Britain a superpower of renewable energy. Let’s build on that to reach net zero.
“Independent research shows that state ownership of energy infrastructure would be a huge risk for investment, a huge risk for hitting our decarbonisation targets and a huge risk for energy billpayers.”