Climate action must foster resilience and grassroot democracy
A UN climate summit whose host called oil and gas “a gift from God”; an incoming US president who thinks climate change is a hoax: the global fight against climate breakdown is looking neither strong nor united.
Trump’s victory is the nightmare outcome of the polarisation of political discourse on everything from race to science. The consequences for climate action could be disastrous. We are already seeing the impacts of 1.3C of global heating, yet we are heading for upwards of 2.6C. Carbon emissions are growing. Whatever progress the US has made on decarbonisation is likely to go into reverse. It’s more important than ever that the rest of the world doubles down on eliminating fossil fuels.
So I’m glad the Labour government is pushing ahead with the decarbonisation of our power sector. Speed is absolutely vital. So is democracy. We have the best chance of creating a fair, lasting green transition with widespread public support if we take people with us.
Politicians from both sides of the House of Commons have, up to now, stayed relatively united on the response to the climate emergency. A Labour government passed the Climate Change Act in 2008 with only a handful of MPs voting against. A Conservative prime minister increased the ambition of our emissions reduction target, introducing a goal of net zero by 2050.
But that unity is being chipped away by voices who are trying to hold back our green future by playing on people’s concerns that their voices are being ignored. There is a real danger of polarisation taking hold here if the Government doesn’t get this right. We cannot afford that. If we are to avoid the backlash that is happening in the US, we need to bring people with us from day one – something the last government didn’t want to do and this government is treating as a luxury.
So what does this mean in my own constituency? It stands in the path of the new power lines that will be needed to bring the power generated by North Sea offshore wind farms to London and the South East. The debate has focused on opposition to new pylons but it’s about much more than this.
First, let’s lay to rest the accusation of Nimbyism. My constituents recognise that we are living in a climate emergency. They’ve seen the droughts, the extreme rainfall and flooding which are the early signs of climate breakdown. They know there is a real risk of huge swathes of East Anglia being under water in future years. They want rapid climate action: that’s why they voted for a Green MP.
They also want to be listened to. And they want to know that the Government isn’t just rushing into the first and apparently easiest and cheapest option without considering all the other options as well as what’s best for the long term. So do I.
What we build has to deliver fast, but it must also be robust and resilient to the changes in our climate that we know will happen. There have been too many examples in this country of infrastructure or building projects which have failed in the long term because governments, local authorities and private companies went for the cheapest and easiest option which, ultimately, wasn’t fit for purpose and just loaded future generations with the cost of sorting things out.
Whatever option ministers choose in the roll-out of renewables has to deliver as soon as possible and also stand the test of time. Will we look back in 20-30 years and say “that was the right way to do it”?
So I don’t want a pause to the rapid rollout of renewables, quite the opposite. I want it to happen fast and in line with the climate science. And that means a renewables revolution that’s done with communities from the outset, not the delays that will come from Government going head-to-head with local people.
As a constituency MP, as well as my party’s co-leader, I am especially determined to resist any attempts to play political games with the climate emergency or use it to pitch people against each other in a Nimbys vs Yimbys kind of way. Far too much is at stake.
Climate action must promote grassroots democracy, resilience and preparedness. That is how we turn the tide and how we deliver urgent action on climate breakdown at the speed the science demands and with us all pulling together.
Adrian Ramsay is the MP for Waveney Valley and co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.
