7 March 2022
The Green Party has warned the Prime Minister that there is no such thing as the “climate change pass” that he is arguing for, because climate change doesn’t wait for politics [1]. The party says that only by going further and faster on climate action will the UK government be able to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has urged Boris Johnson not to be fooled by climate-sceptic Conservative MPs and right-wing commentators who are now using the travesty of war in Ukraine as an opportunistic attempt to further their pro-fossil fuel views.
Denyer said:
“There is no such thing as a ‘climate change pass’ – unfortunately climate change doesn’t wait for politics. Last week’s UN climate report [2] said ‘any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.’ It is clear that only by reducing our need for fossil fuels will we be able to both stop climate change and rid this world of the tyranny that goes hand in hand with this dirty source of energy.
“The Conservative MPs and right-wing agitators who are now calling for the UK’s net zero targets to be scrapped are helping to fuel Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.
“It is our reliance on fossil fuels that have stopped us from taking the necessary action so far which would have any impact on Putin. We must be doing everything we can now to reduce our reliance on Russia’s fossil fuels by massively ramping up our installation of renewable energy sources before next winter.
“To deliberately increase our reliance on fossil fuels at this time would not only seriously impact our efforts to tackle climate change, it would leave us even more exposed to the whims of dictators and tyrannous individuals seeking to exploit such frailties now and in the future.
“If the Prime Minister was serious about reducing our reliance on Russian gas he would start the massive investment we have repeatedly called for in renewables, energy efficiency and the skills required to deliver such projects in order for us to reach net zero as quickly as possible.” [3]
ENDS
Notes
1
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnsons-call-to-relax-green-target-jbtvrfklx
2
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/resources/press/press-release/
3
The Green Party’s 2019 general election manifesto set out how to spend £100 billion a year for a decade to make Britain net zero as quickly as possible. The party has continued to call for this urgent action at every opportunity since
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