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London — Environmental groups on Thursday criticized Britain’s opposition Labor Party for abandoning its pledge to invest 28 billion pounds ($35 billion) a year in environmental projects if it wins the next general election.
Labor leader Keir Starmer said his party could no longer commit to this figure because the Conservative government had left the economy in a dire state.
“Interest rates have gone up through the roof. We have to adjust,” he said.
The centre-left party has been out of power since 2010, but opinion polls lead Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party and a national election is due to be held this year.
The first $28 billion pledge for 2021 has become a major political issue, with Conservatives accusing Labor of planning to increase public spending that would raise people’s taxes.
Labor has said it still has plans to meet its goal of generating all of Britain’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030, as well as funding green investment through a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. .
“This is a plan that will deliver more jobs, more investment and cheaper rates,” Starmer said.
Greenpeace said Labor was abandoning green investments that are “hugely popular with voters”.
“British people and businesses want a green industrial strategy fit for the 21st century, not a hollow plan with empty wallets,” said Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK.
Alice Harrison, head of fossil fuels campaigning at Global Witness, said the policy changes were “all the way the Labor government had hoped to usher in a much-needed shift in tackling the climate crisis”. It’s a huge setback for the people.”
The government boasts that the UK is a leader in reducing carbon emissions. The report said UK greenhouse gas emissions have been halved from 1990 levels, mainly due to the almost complete removal of coal from electricity generation. The government has pledged to reduce emissions by 68% below 1990 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
But with seven years to go until the first goalpost, the government’s climate change advisers last year said the pace of action was “alarmingly slow”.
That was before Sunak’s government weakened some of Britain’s environmental commitments, extending a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and issuing new permits for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. was.
Mr Sunak argues that fighting climate change should not impose “unacceptable costs” on ordinary people.
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