North Hoyle offshore windfarm under construction
Will you strive to reform EU energy policy (including the financial flows within or originating from the EU) so as to secure a rapid shift away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy and towards clean renewable energy sources and energy efficiency?
Conservative Party
No response received.
Green Party of England and Wales
Yes. We believe that as well as posing an unacceptable threat of species extinction, climate change is also the gravest single threat to the world's economy and to world stability as it is likely to provoke more frequent and more severe extreme weather events, widespread floods, droughts and other 'natural' disasters, leading to famines, refugee crises, civil unrest and even wars.
The Green Party believes that 60% global CO2 reductions must be made (compared with 1990 levels) to avert the worst consequences of climate change. We follow the 'contraction & converge' model which we believe will be the most equitable way of achieving these reductions while allowing reasonable development in poorer countries.
We believe the UK, as a high-polluting country with a longer history than most of unsustainable use of fossil fuels, must achieve CO2 reductions of 90% by 2050. We believe this is possible and we believe the policies needed to bring it about will have tremendous benefits in social and economic terms, including health improvements as pollution is slashed; stable, sustainable employment; an economy freed from the cyclical shocks associated with oil-dependency; much better public transport; an end to fuel poverty through energy conservation measures, and so on.
The Green Party has comprehensive policies for dealing with climate change. On the international stage we must go beyond Kyoto - a useful framework for agreement, but currently with inadequate targets. We want to set an example that will demonstrate the benefits of the Green industrial revolution, and inspire other countries to make similar changes. We want free transfer of relevant technology to poorer countries, to help them more easily pursue a path of truly sustainable development.
At the European Parliament level we will take every opportunity to help reduce fossil fuel use and to encourage benign alternatives. Such efforts will cross many policy areas (not least transport and trade, domestic and industrial energy conservation, non-nuclear renewable energy production, emissions-reducing Zero Waste policies and so on) and also apply at the various levels of government.
For example, our transport policy includes challenging EU encouragement of roadbuilding and airport expansions while urging higher road fuel taxes EU-wide and the introduction of EU-wide aviation fuel tax; meanwhile our national level policy reinforces this, by eg showing how to redirect the �30 billion earmarked for the national roadbuilding programme into measures which, amongst other benefits, will drastically reduce traffic pollution; Green Party peer Lord Beaumont of Whitley recently piloted the extremely radical Air Traffic Emissions Reduction Bill through the House of Lords; Greens at local level and in the London Assembly have been proposing policies for reducing air traffic; and our local election policies include local transport plans, HGV reduction plans, Safe Routes to School programmes, rail regeneration plans, all of which together could comfortably reduce road traffic by 20% within 10 years, which we believe could translate into a 30% CO2 reduction from traffic during that time.
We have a similar approach to non-nuclear renewable energy, where not only do we want massive EU and UK government investment, but we have local election policies calculated to reduce CO2 emissions through practical energy conservation and production measures. This year, for example, we are proposing a 40-point Smart Energy strategy for every local authority, which would complement the policies we advocate at regional, national and EU level.
The Green Party is the only party with a thorough understanding of this issue, a vision for how to handle it, and the political will to see it through.
Green Party of Scotland
Greens believe that a European strategy for energy should have reduced energy consumption and increased efficiency at its core, encompass all forms of renewable energy, and ensure a central place for public participation in energy policy development. The Scottish Green Party is the only party fully committed to an environmentally sustainable energy strategy, and to the rights of local communities in the implementation of energy policy.
European Greens have already worked hard to strengthen EU legislation, including the Landfill Directive, Waste Incineration Directive, Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive and Packaging Directive, but more still needs to be done.
Among the election pledges in our manifesto are that Scottish Green MEPs will join other European Greens to:
- Cut energy and resource consumption by improving public transport and investing in renewable energy and energy conservation.
- Improve energy efficiency of new buildings and existing housing stock, end fuel poverty and devise higher energy efficiency standards and labelling for electrical appliances.
- Phase in renewables by promoting the integrated development of wind, solar, wave and tidal energy sources, and establish better mechanisms to scrutinise environmental impact assessments made on these technologies, aiming for a target of 25% of total energy consumption to come from renewables by 2020.
- Ensure that all environmental impact assessments include an energy audit for the construction and life-time use of the development.
- Phase out nuclear power and abolish the Euratom treaty for the expansion of nuclear power.
Labour Party
Labour fully shares your analysis of the importance of climate change, and of the central role that the European Union can and must play in tackling climate change internally and in negotiations with our international partners. Our manifesto for the European elections makes this absolutely clear.
We pledge that "We will use our EU Presidency in 2005 to encourage all countries to deliver their Kyoto commitments to reduce emissions, and we will start a dialogue with our international partners on how we should tackle climate change in the longer term. Labour will work to secure the inclusion of aviation emissions in the EU Emissions Trading scheme".
Liberal Democrats
Yes. Our manifesto for the European Elections includes a clear commitment to making energy policy more sustainable. We must ensure that liberalisation of the energy market is balanced with environmental concerns. We will ensure that the UK, in producing its allocation plan for permits in the mandatory phase of the EU emissions trading scheme beginning in 2008, will achieve real emissions reductions, promoting more efficient and carbon-free generation and use of energy.
Domestically, we are committed to increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable sources to 20% by 2020 and to 50% by 2050. We would phase out existing nuclear plant when they reach the end of their safe operating lives.
