Don't let Uxbridge be the end of net zero
While large parts of Europe struggle with intense heatwaves and wildfires, Britain is in the midst of a typically mild summer, with grey skies and showers as common as sunny days. British holiday-makers will have witnessed the sharp end of the European heatwaves first-hand. Many popular beach resorts across the Mediterranean are dangerously hot and the deadly forest fires shows that Europe is now on the front line of the climate emergency.
Against this backdrop of growing upheaval as a result of climatic change, we might expect our politicians to be doubling down on their commitments to tackle our reliance on fossil fuels and to reduce carbon emissions.
Over the last decade a broad political consensus has developed in Britain to pursue net zero to the benefit of the economy and the environment. Indeed, the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility has stated that, if not slowed, climate change will have a catastrophic impact on all aspects of the UK economy.
However, the results of the recent Uxbridge & South Ruislip by-election threaten to destroy this cross-party consensus. The Tories won the seat by 485 votes, a huge relief to the embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. This electoral success, against the odds in Boris Jonson's former seat, is widely believed to be as a result of their opposition to Sadiq Khan's proposed expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Within hours of the result, Tory Cabinet Ministers and MPs were urging the Prime Minister to roll back on key climate policies, including target dates for the phasing out of gas boilers and petrol and diesel powered vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Labour leader Keir Stamer has indicated that he feels uncomfortable with the mayor's ULEZ policy and does not want the party to adopt environmental policies which become a target for Tory election leaflets based on economic impact to voters.
As the two main political parties compete to keep voters on side, there is a real danger that a false narrative emerges, questioning the need to act urgently on climate change and the economic sustainability of climate policy. As Labour and the Conservatives race to the bottom over climate policy in search of votes, this risks putting our long-term futures at risk.
Both parties’ rhetoric only emboldens a growing chorus of climate change denial across the print and broadcast media from the Telegraph and Daily Mail to GB News and Talk TV. Eliciting an even stronger response across social media. Anyone taking to twitter in recent days to point out how climate change has contributed to the forest fires in Rhodes has been bombarded with increasingly hostile and co-ordinated misinformation dismissing climate science.
In the House of Lords this week, the former diplomat and Boris Johnson’s Chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has talked of the benefits of rising temperatures and the need to adapt to living in a hotter climate. He may be an isolated voice at the moment, but an electoral wipeout at the coming election may lead more desperate Conservatives to adopt Lord Frost’s climate-sceptic views.
While politicians appear to be getting cold feet over climate policy, recent polling indicates that the public want more environmental commitments from the Government. One such poll, commissioned by Wildlife & Countryside Link, found that 53 percent believe the government is not doing enough on environmental issues. Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters within the sample felt this even more, with 73 percent and 78 percent respectively saying not enough is being done to tackle environmental problems.
This should serve as a wake-up call to Party leaders in Britain. Despite the result in Uxbridge & South Ruislip, voters care deeply about protecting the environment and tacking climate change and will punish politicians at the polls if they abandon their green commitments.
Whoever wins power at the next election will a significant challenge as they navigate through increasing climate-change related disruption. As one leading climate change scientist recently remarked “It’s as if the human race has received a terminal medical diagnosis and knows there is a cure, but has consciously decided not to save itself" .
We need bold political leadership and a willingness to take the tough decisions to find a cure to the climate change crisis. This will require a climate change technology revolution, every bit as life changing as the industrial revolution of the 19th century.
This must lead to changes in every major aspect of our lives, from how we produce energy, how we grow and consume food to how we move around. The future is uncertain and the road to carbon-net-zero will impact all of our lives, but it’s the only chance we have to protect this precious planet for the future.
Dominic Dyer is Chair of Nature 2030 and is a leading wildlife protection and conservation campaigner, writer and broadcaster.
