Major British political parties have published their manifestos for the July 4 general election. The Labor Party’s manifesto puts green policy “at the heart” of its plans for growth and prosperity. To some extent, all parties focus on climate in their promises to the British public.
In the Conservative manifesto, Rishi Sunak wants to deliver on climate without what he has called “unaffordable eco-zealousness”. While the Conservative Party promises to deliver on its commitment to international climate finance, the Conservative Party’s “pragmatic and proportionate” approach to the environment does not lead to climate-specific spending commitments.
The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto places climate change third on the priority list and promises to “put tackling climate change at the heart of a new industrial strategy.” The manifesto also fails to specify climate spending targets, instead following the advice of the Conservatives’ own National Infrastructure Committee (NIC) to provide 100% financing to low-income households for the installation of heat pumps.
The Labor Party’s manifesto puts green policy “at the heart” of its plans for growth and prosperity, but also for the climate. The largest spending budget is £23.7 billion for green measures during the next parliament, with the key objectives of creating 650,000 jobs by 2030, boosting industrial innovation, cutting bills and creating a secure supply of clean energy.
Green party co-leader Carla Denyer calls it a ‘business-as-usual manifesto’ that leaves a ‘flank hole’ in the Labor budget. In its own manifesto, the Green Party estimates that an average annual investment of £40 billion over the course of this parliament will deliver a “fairer, greener” Britain.
Investing in the industry
In the run-up to the elections, sustainable energy companies and industry organizations also did this called on the next government to boost investment in the industry to enable the UK’s transition to renewable energy sources.
Energy Network Association calls for a stable policy and regulatory environment for long-term investment and supply chain capacity, highlighting delays in new transmission infrastructure that is “bogged down in planning”.
The Conservative manifesto promises to accelerate major infrastructure projects, including new energy plans. Although the environmental impact will receive less attention in large-scale industrial projects, it does promise to reduce waiting times on the electricity grid.
Labour’s climate policy, manifesto and platform focus on Great British Energy, an investment mechanism for the green sector. Although it was initially announced as a state-owned clean energy company, it is will not generate its own energy supply.
The Green Party’s promise to nationalize the “Big 5” energy companies is the closest thing we have to a state-owned energy system.
Addressing the green skills shortage
While the industry has emphasized this the economic opportunities of the transition to renewable energy and its potential to open up the labor market, employment remains a barrier for both the Conservatives and Labor to accelerate change.
GB Energy will be headquartered in Scotland, where North Sea oil and gas licensing is particularly controversial given the jobs the industry provides. Keir Starmer has said GB Energy will provide jobs. Labour’s manifesto sets out ambitions to create 650,000 jobs by 2030.
The only political party that has committed to no new oil and gas permits is the Green Party, which also promises to completely halt fossil fuel extraction.
Ensuring a just transition to a zero-carbon economy is at the heart of the Green Manifesto, which promises to prepare workers for the transition and the new roles they may take on, by investing in skills and training (up to £4 billion per year) to ensure that no one is “stranded without jobs”.
Labor has promised to reward clean energy developers with a UK Jobs Bonus, allocating up to £500 million a year from 2026. It will encourage companies that provide good jobs and working conditions and build their production chains in Britain’s coastal industrial heartlands. areas and energy communities.
The Liberal Democrats’ 2024 manifesto highlights the importance of equipping the next generation with green skills that will guarantee employment within the renewable energy sector. The party promises to invest at education level.
For the Tories, “highly skilled and well-paid” jobs in the oil and gas industry must be protected. The Conservative manifesto accuses Labor of ‘closing’ the North Sea, putting 200,000 jobs at risk.
Increasing renewable energy capacity
The Liberal Democrats are promising to remove barriers to new solar and wind projects and generate 80% of the UK’s energy from renewables by 2030. That same year, the Labor manifesto pledged that the party would work with the private sector to double onshore wind power and triple solar power. energy and quadruple offshore wind energy.
Elected Green MPs are said to be pushing for wind power generation to provide around 70% of the UK’s electricity supply by 2030. The manifesto outlines targets to achieve 80 GW of offshore wind energy, 53 GW of onshore wind energy and 100 GW of solar energy by 2035.
In the same terms as Labour’s targets, that ambition would lead to roughly five times more offshore wind, a tripling of onshore wind and six times more solar energy. The Tories have pledged to triple offshore wind power generation.
For the Conservative Party, strengthening supply chains and achieving energy security is not possible without oil and gas; new gas-fired power stations are promised during their next parliament. It will “maintain the leadership on climate change we achieved at COP26, as well as our efforts to tackle global warming and biodiversity loss.”
However, the manifesto states: “Conservatives know that if we are forced to choose between clean energy and keeping citizens safe and warm, we will choose to keep the lights on.”
Net zero or not
The Conservative manifesto maintains the party’s pledge to achieve a net zero climate by 2050. This has been Britain’s long-term goal and is reflected in Labour’s manifesto. However, the Liberal Democrats have pledged to achieve this target by 2040, and the Green Party has set its ambitions to net zero by 2035.
Each opposition party has identified policy changes that would achieve the green transition; the Tories promise to reach net zero with no new green levies or levies.
It is worth noting that Reform UK is the only political hopeful that is not pursuing any net zero target. It has called Net Zero “the wrong bit, at the wrong price, in the wrong time frame.” It would scrap net zero ambitions entirely and “maximise Britain’s vast energy wealth of oil and gas”.
The relative optimism in the sector suggests that this political upheaval offers a new opportunity for growth. Solar Taskforce co-chair Chris Hewett recently said the election is an opportunity to “widen some of the roads and increase some of the speed limits” in the UK’s solar roadmap.
