Sarah Olney MP, the LibDem Environment spokesman says there are 10 reasons why the #10pointplan doesn't add up.
- 1.Two-thirds of the money in the Conservative ' Climate Plan is already pledged. Of the £12bn "announced", only £4bn is new.
- 2. The plan includes new nuclear power stations - more expensive than renewable energy. Nuclear is far higher than the unit cost of renewables, and will take decades to deliver.
- 3.The £12 billion (sorry, £4 billion) is tiny compared with investment in other countries, such as €42 billion in Germany and €35 billion in France. This sum is nowhere near what we need to spend.
- 4. Boris claims this plan is part of a highly ambitious COP26 strategy as the hosts of next year's UN climate talks. However, it gets the UK nowhere near the emissions reductions needed to be consistent with Paris Agreement or 1.5C warming.
- 5. The PM mentions only one nature-based solution in his entire plan - planting trees. Government doesn't understand enough about the biodiversity crisis to invest in the UK's peatlands, wetlands or native woodlands.
- 6. Despite promising to end petrol and diesel car sales by 2030, this plan will allow hybrids to continue to be sold - keeping fossil fuel cars on the road for at least five more years.
- 7. There is still no Department of Climate Change to deliver the net zero commitment and no new powers for local authorities who have an important role to play.
- 8. This plan has ignored the need for net zero newbuild homes, as does the Planning White Paper. Since the Conservatives scrapped the net zero homes legislation in 2016, another one million homes have been built which will need to be upgraded.
- 9. The Conservatives scrapped previous Liberal Democrat work on Carbon Capture and Storage only to come back to it now. They have wasted the last five years.
- 10. Extending the Green Homes Grant for one year, doesn't give the construction industry the incentive it needs to build the skills needed to deliver home upgrades at scale. Conservatives don't understand green jobs.