Protests over the previous weeks have pushed climate change back onto the political agenda with a vengeance. Seldom do other important national issues overtake Brexit in the national psyche, but I’m sure I speak for many politicos when I say that I welcome the brief respite from talking about customs unions, free trade agreements and backstops.
For better or worse, the protest group Extinction Rebellion has now entered our common parlance but, despite all their bravado and rhetoric, we have seen hypocrisy at their heart – a group of self-aggrandising, self-indulgent elitists who probably have a larger carbon footprint than anyone who they intend to go and protest.
The actions of Extinction Rebellion are incredibly counterintuitive, their militancy and arrogance turns more people away from the cause they claim to champion. Extinction Rebellion are the last people we need becoming the face of the climate change agenda.
As much as it pains the eco left to acknowledge, the first prime minister to speak out about the dangers of climate change was Margaret Thatcher in her speech to the UN back in 1989. What Thatcher said at the UN podium in 1989 still rings true today:
“As well as the science, we need to get the economics right. That means we must have continued economic growth in order to generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment. But it must be growth that doesn’t plunder the planet today and leave our children to deal with the consequences tomorrow”.
She continued:
“We must resist the simplistic tendency to blame modern multinational industry for the damage which is being done to the environment. Far from being the villains – it is on them that we rely to do the research and find the solutions.”
This is something that Extinction Rebellion fails to understand. It is free market capitalism that has delivered the innovation necessary to make green energy a viable alternative. Technological innovation spurred on by capitalism has contributed dramatically to the reduction of paper we use and the increases in recyclable alternatives.
If Extinction Rebellion genuinely cared for the environment they wouldn’t have been shutting down roads (which only increases carbon emissions) or disrupting public transport – they should focus their efforts outside the Chinese embassy, or any country for that matter, that is failing to address their increasing carbon emissions.
Few countries have been more successful in reducing carbon emissions than the UK. Since 1990 the UK has cut carbon emissions by 42%, and an independent assessment by PWC shows that the UK has decarbonised its economy at the fastest rate of G20 countries since 2000. The last time the UK’s climate emissions were this low, was in 1888!
This is a remarkable achievement in itself. Of course we must do more and now is certainly not the time to be complacent. In Parliament last week the Labour leadership called for a “national climate change emergency” in a cheap attempt to gain political capital out of the growing concern on climate change.
Climate change is one of the largest threats facing us all and disingenuous superficial posturing from the Leader of the Opposition is no substitute for real, credible policies for long term decarbonisation.
Jeremy Corbyn has been in politics a long time and has never been a champion for the environment – just look at his record since he became leader of the opposition. In 2015, Corbyn called for coal to be continued to be used, despite its hugely damaging impact on the environment. Meanwhile the UK Government was working to establish the Powering Past Coal Alliance. Corbyn was also criticised by his own backbenchers for advocating re-opening coal mines in South Wales. In addition to this, Corbyn is a long opponent of nuclear energy. His shadow chancellor would end nuclear power “within the first 100 days” of a Labour government.
Ending nuclear power in the UK would be a disastrous step backwards for renewable energy and mean that the UK would have to rely on its emergency energy capacity which is far more damaging to the environment than nuclear.
It will shock nobody that Corbyn is a political opportunist. Only Corbyn’s band of socialists could think it appropriate to call for a climate emergency at the same time the Labour-led Cumbria county council have approved plans for a new deep coal mine – the first deep coal mine to be opened in the UK for 30 years.
The Conservatives have made great strides, delivering for our environment- conserving biodiversity and reducing our carbon emissions. Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable takes time, however, the government has set ambitious targets to reduce its Carbon emissions to zero by the year 2050.
A little celebrated fact is that the UK’s renewable energy capacity has quadrupled since 2010 and the UK has the largest installed offshore wind capacity in the world thanks to the government’s sustained investment in this crucial technology.
Back in 2017 the government launched its Clean Growth Strategy, which sets out plans to build on progress in the power sector while advancing decarbonisation across the whole of the economy, including proposals on housing, business, transport, and the natural environment.
I am pleased that climate change is back on the agenda but we must be vocal and condemn the deplorable actions of Extinction Rebellion. No matter how well-intentioned and loud they are, their activism betrays a more malign intent: to subvert the foundations of prosperous economic system.
As I have said above, we cannot allow Extinction Rebellion and their ilk to become the face of the climate change movement. Their actions and irrational prejudice towards capitalism does the cause more harm than good.
We need to take the hysteria out of the climate change debate and have rational discussions about how we achieve a more sustainable future without destroying our prosperous economic model or damaging our own living standards.
Conservatives must be more vocal about our government’s real achievements in tackling climate change. After all, climate change is a much too serious issue to be left to the shallow posturing of Extinction Rebellion.