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4 January 2023

The Greens have urged the government not to reduce the support it provides businesses towards their energy costs, but to use it to incentivise the shift to renewables and energy efficiency.

As the government prepares to announce changes to the support it provides businesses for energy costs [1], Green Party co–leader Carla Denyer said:

“Businesses up and down the country are facing the very real prospect of having to go out of operation because of the multiple crises they are facing due to a failing economy. Now is not the time to reduce support, putting so many jobs, livelihoods and local services at risk.

“Instead, the government should be offering the right package of incentives to help businesses through this cost of living crisis and build a more sustainable future for all. The energy crisis we are seeing is not just a result of this winter, or even the war in Ukraine, but is a consequence of the wider climate crisis, which our government is failing to act upon.

“Businesses tell our councillors all over England and Wales that they want help to become more green by insulating their properties and shifting to renewables. 

“The government could use the energy support scheme to help make this happen by incentivising businesses to use renewable energy providers, providing insulation grants, and removing the current perverse incentive where businesses can be punished with increased business rates if they make their buildings more energy efficient.

“Small and independent businesses and enterprises are the lifeblood of local communities and we want to see them thrive as part of a greener, fairer future.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64155064

For more information or to arrange an interview contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401

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4 January 2023

The Green Party has said the latest government announcement of £32.9 million to create a national network of walking and cycling experts [1] doesn’t come close to delivering the active travel revolution we need. 

The funding announced this week aims to support local authorities to enhance their technical skills so that high-quality schemes can be delivered which make it easier and safer for hundreds of thousands more people to walk and cycle. 

Green Party transport spokesperson and Leader of the Green Party Group on Bradford Council, Matt Edwards, said:

“It is always welcome to see new funding to help develop world class active travel networks across England. Active Travel England wants 50% of trips in England’s urban areas to be walked, cycled or made by other active travel means by 2030 [2]. 

“However, this goal is being undermined whilst our local Councils continue to treat active travel as an afterthought. Retraining staff is a good place to start but the government needs to be much more ambitious.

“£33 million is a drop in the ocean when you consider the billions in the Department of Transport budget – £16 billion alone is allocated to just five road building schemes [3]. 

“Training new teams of experts is pointless without the funding to deliver the programme of schemes we need. The government needs to follow through and get serious about reducing traffic levels and boosting active travel by switching the billions earmarked for building new roads into investing in healthy walking, cycling and other forms of active travel.” 

Notes

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/329-million-to-create-a-national-network-of-walking-and-cycling-experts 

2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/active-travel-england/about

3. https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/campaign/scrap-road-schemes-to-grow-economy/

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19 December 2022

The Green Party has welcomed the deal to halt biodiversity loss announced at the UN’s COP15 summit in Canada today [1], but warned the UK government and others must now step up to the plate to make the promises a reality.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:

“Now that we have reached this point, it is vital that governments step up with the money and the plans to not only halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems but actually restore the natural world we all depend upon.

“Here in the UK, we have one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, yet the government has made no progress on its own commitment to restore 30% of land for nature by 2030 [2]. Instead, it has gone in the wrong direction with its foolish and short-sighted attacks on the natural world that have rightly been condemned by charities [3].

“With this international deal now in place, it is incumbent on the UK government to start taking the necessary action on the ecological emergency which currently poses real threats to human society – to food and water supplies, to clean air, to our ability to adapt to a warming world.

“This starts with richer nations contributing money and resources to start taking action to deliver on this deal – as many of the world’s most important countries for biodiversity are also some of the poorest. But it also requires serious attention to the biodiversity loss here in the UK.

“If the government wants to demonstrate a genuine commitment to halting and reversing species decline, it will show leadership by introducing a Rights of Nature Act [4]. This would provide legal protections for wildlife and habitats in England and Wales and be enforced by an independent Commission for Nature. It would also ensure that the regeneration of nature is at the heart of all policy considerations. 

“The government must also immediately stop dragging its feet on introducing the promised nature-friendly farming payments scheme, publish a clear pathway to meet its commitment to restore 30% of land for nature by 2030 and scrap plans to weaken protections for nature in the Retained EU Law (revocation and reform) Bill.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64019324

2

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/28/tories-embarrassingly-poor-nature-targets-2030-labour-says 

3

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/rspb-england-government-national-trust-wildlife-trusts-b2174501.html

4

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/10/23/green-party-backs-a-rights-of-nature-act-to-give-nature-legal-rights/

For more information or to arrange an interview contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401

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9 December 2022

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has made a series of key demands of Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey during a visit to a nature reserve in her Suffolk constituency today [Friday] which sits in the shadow of the planned Sizewell C nuclear power plant. 

Ramsay visited the important RSPB Minsmere site while politicians from around the world attended the UN COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal. He called on the Environment Secretary to show international leadership on the issue, starting with fully reversing the government’s attacks on nature.

Ramsay has called on the government to:

• Publish a clear pathway to meet its commitment to restore 30% of land for nature by 2030

• To scrap plans to weaken protections for nature in the Retained EU Law (revocation and reform) Bill

• Stop dragging its feet on introducing the promised nature-friendly farming payments scheme

Ramsay, who is standing as a parliamentary candidate for the Greens in Suffolk at the next general election, said:

“The government’s attacks on nature have rightly been very strongly challenged by the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust and others. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Protecting and restoring nature is deeply important to people in Thérèse Coffey’s constituency and around the country. During the biodiversity COP, the Environment Secretary must rethink the government’s approach and show international leadership on this crucial issue.  

“Minsmere is a great example of rich and varied landscapes, managed carefully by the RSPB to ensure that the huge variety of wildlife survives and thrives. Yet this site, within the environment secretary’s constituency, is under threat from the Sizewell C nuclear power plant [2], which was given the go ahead by the government last week. Meanwhile the government’s weak and harmful policies are failing to prevent and reverse further declines in wildlife and nature at sites across the country.

“That’s why the Green Party is calling for the government to immediately stop dragging its feet on introducing the promised nature-friendly farming payments scheme, publish a clear pathway to meet its commitment to restore 30% of land for nature by 2030 and scrap plans to weaken protections for nature in the Retained EU Law (revocation and reform) Bill.”

Earlier in the week the Green Party also called on the government to introduce a Rights of Nature Act to extend legal protections for wildlife and habitats in England and Wales, and establish an independent Commission for Nature to oversee the Act’s enforcement [3]. 

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/minsmere/ 

2

https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/casework/cases/sizewell-c/ 

3

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/12/07/greens-call-to-extend-legal-protections-for-wildlife/

For more information or to arrange an interview contact the press office on press@greenparty.org.uk or call 0203 691 9401

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