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Subsidies were ended for On-Shore Wind Farms in 2015
On-Shore wind can be the most cost-efficient way of producing low carbon energy
Commercial solar installations of less than five megawatts – enough to power 2,500 homes had their subsidies ended in 2016
Subsidies for fossil fuelled-power stations conversion to wood or another biomass fuel were ended in 2016
In 2015, the Tories killed off the green deal, aimed at helping homeowners bring down their energy bills through installing insulation, and fitting new boilers and draught-proofing.
There is now no energy efficiency policy for homes, which account for around a third of UK carbon emissions
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) was launched in 2012. In 2017 the GIB was sold off
The incentive to buy a greener car was undermined in 2017 when the government changed the excise duty was levelled off to a single figure for all cars regardless of pollution impact
A decade-long plan to force all new homes to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016 was binned by the Treasury in 2015
In July 2015 the Tories allowed fracking in thousands of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs)
A target set during the 2010-15 government to keep increasing the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes was dropped in Osborne’s 2015 emergency budget
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay rejected
In the case of nuclear power the government seem mesmerised by atomic power and are willing to provide extremely generous financial support and other help to kickstart a renaissance
Nuclear power faces all sorts of other hurdles such as uncertain equity investors, legal challenges and ever-increasing costs and delays
Offshore wind, much more expensive than onshore farms, has so far escaped the axe
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) was established to help green projects with an initial injection of £3.8bn of public money
In reality it was never a bank but rather an investment vehicle. It could not lend or borrow and was reliant on seed money from the government to make investments
It was first put forward by the Labour government in 2008 and was included in the 2010 manifesto of all main parties
In 2017 GIB was sold to Macquarie
The Tories funded the GIB to the tune of £3.8bn, with the GIB seeing a 10% return on investment (only 16% of their funds had been invested at the time of sale - £610,000
The GIB was sold for £2.3 billion if loss to the taxpayer of more than £1.5 billion and with Macquarie gaining over £3 billion of seed money meaning they were paid to buy the GIB
Macquarie intends GIB to become its platform for investments in green infrastructure projects in the UK and internationally, rather than been a UK investment vehicle
Macquarie has made a series of public, but non-binding, commitments regarding the future of GIB and its role in the green economy
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee says the government sold off its control of green investment too cheaply, and with little acknowledgement of the benefits it could have had
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay is a proposed tidal power plant that was to be constructed in Swansea Bay
The plan in its current form has been rejected by the UK Government
The logic for rejecting the tidal lagoon is that it does not provide as much electricity as an offshore installation
Tidal power is much more consistent in supply than wind power and Swansea would provide enough electricity for 155,000 homes
As their is many areas around the UK coast that would suit the Tidal Lagoon solution, it provides a massive opportunity for the UK to become world leaders in the industry
In February 2019, the Guardian reported that Swansea tidal lagoon plan has been revived – without the need for government funding
Property company Land Securities, Cardiff airport and developer Berkeley Group are among those to have expressed an interest in signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the lagoon
Liverpool tidal power plant on the Mersey is an ideal place for a barrage. Its tidal range (the difference in water level between high and low tide) can be 10 metres or more at spring tides
A narrow channel at its entrance (known as “The Narrows”) means the barrage could be shorter and thus cheaper to construct
Close to a large urban area, with lots of electricity demand, the barrage would provide electricity for 300,000 homes
The Tories are refusing to fund the Liverpool barrage
With the subsidies first given to home solar panel installation there was a massive uptake. The initial rate was 43p per kWh, which while this is generous had the high impact on solar panel take up
Since 2010 the subsidy fell in steps to finally be scrapped altogether in 2019
Since the government ended subsidies for solar panels the industry has seen take up collapse
The government has said it is working on a replacement scheme, but in the meantime solar panel providers / installers have no clue as to when
Solar panel installation is down by 94% in 2019
The government said that solar panel users should give their electricity to the main providers for free until a new scheme was put in place
Millions of gallons of water are used in the fracking process, which directly reduces the amount of clean water available to surrounding residents
When water is not available to fracking sites locally, it may be transported from other regions, ultimately drawing down available water from lakes and rivers across the country
Water contamination could also reduce the overall water supply of regional fracking areas, as the chemicals that are used in the process have the propensity to leak back into local water supplies
Waste water is an issue at fracking sites. Between 20% and 40% of the water used for fracking that is returned to the ground surface consists of toxic contaminants
Fracking increases the potential for oil spills, which can harm the soil and surrounding vegetation
Fracking was halted at the Lancashire fracking site on 21st August 2019 due to a 1.6 magnitude tremor
On 23rd August fracking at the Lancashire site was halted again after a 1.05 magnitude tremor
Following suspension of fracking a tremor measuring 2.1 on the Richter scale was recorded at the Lancashire site
On 26 August 2019 the Lancashire Fracking site recorded an Earthquake of 2.9 on the Richter scale, the largest earthquake recorded in the UK due to fracking
One of the main chemicals released in the fracking process is methane, and it is estimated that 4% of it escapes into the atmosphere during extraction
Also the use of gas in providing our energy needs has a large impact on our carbon footprint, as travelling to homes is obviously subject to leaks. This escapes into the atmosphere as methane
In the first two decades after its release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide
The UK has biggest fossil fuel subsidies in the EU
It found £10.5bn a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the £6.8bn spent on renewable energy
The EU found the UK provides £10.5bn a year in support for fossil fuels, significantly more than the £6.8bn spent on renewable energy
These figures are from 2016. Renewable subsidies have been radically cut since the figures were released
On-Shore wind can be the most cost-efficient way of producing low carbon energy
Commercial solar installations of less than five megawatts – enough to power 2,500 homes had their subsidies ended in 2016
Subsidies for fossil fuelled-power stations conversion to wood or another biomass fuel were ended in 2016
In 2015, the Tories killed off the green deal, aimed at helping homeowners bring down their energy bills through installing insulation, and fitting new boilers and draught-proofing.
There is now no energy efficiency policy for homes, which account for around a third of UK carbon emissions
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) was launched in 2012. In 2017 the GIB was sold off
The incentive to buy a greener car was undermined in 2017 when the government changed the excise duty was levelled off to a single figure for all cars regardless of pollution impact
A decade-long plan to force all new homes to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016 was binned by the Treasury in 2015
In July 2015 the Tories allowed fracking in thousands of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs)
A target set during the 2010-15 government to keep increasing the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes was dropped in Osborne’s 2015 emergency budget
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay rejected
In the case of nuclear power the government seem mesmerised by atomic power and are willing to provide extremely generous financial support and other help to kickstart a renaissance
Nuclear power faces all sorts of other hurdles such as uncertain equity investors, legal challenges and ever-increasing costs and delays
Offshore wind, much more expensive than onshore farms, has so far escaped the axe
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) was established to help green projects with an initial injection of £3.8bn of public money
In reality it was never a bank but rather an investment vehicle. It could not lend or borrow and was reliant on seed money from the government to make investments
It was first put forward by the Labour government in 2008 and was included in the 2010 manifesto of all main parties
In 2017 GIB was sold to Macquarie
The Tories funded the GIB to the tune of £3.8bn, with the GIB seeing a 10% return on investment (only 16% of their funds had been invested at the time of sale - £610,000
The GIB was sold for £2.3 billion if loss to the taxpayer of more than £1.5 billion and with Macquarie gaining over £3 billion of seed money meaning they were paid to buy the GIB
Macquarie intends GIB to become its platform for investments in green infrastructure projects in the UK and internationally, rather than been a UK investment vehicle
Macquarie has made a series of public, but non-binding, commitments regarding the future of GIB and its role in the green economy
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee says the government sold off its control of green investment too cheaply, and with little acknowledgement of the benefits it could have had
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay is a proposed tidal power plant that was to be constructed in Swansea Bay
The plan in its current form has been rejected by the UK Government
The logic for rejecting the tidal lagoon is that it does not provide as much electricity as an offshore installation
Tidal power is much more consistent in supply than wind power and Swansea would provide enough electricity for 155,000 homes
As their is many areas around the UK coast that would suit the Tidal Lagoon solution, it provides a massive opportunity for the UK to become world leaders in the industry
In February 2019, the Guardian reported that Swansea tidal lagoon plan has been revived – without the need for government funding
Property company Land Securities, Cardiff airport and developer Berkeley Group are among those to have expressed an interest in signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the lagoon
Liverpool tidal power plant on the Mersey is an ideal place for a barrage. Its tidal range (the difference in water level between high and low tide) can be 10 metres or more at spring tides
A narrow channel at its entrance (known as “The Narrows”) means the barrage could be shorter and thus cheaper to construct
Close to a large urban area, with lots of electricity demand, the barrage would provide electricity for 300,000 homes
The Tories are refusing to fund the Liverpool barrage
With the subsidies first given to home solar panel installation there was a massive uptake. The initial rate was 43p per kWh, which while this is generous had the high impact on solar panel take up
Since 2010 the subsidy fell in steps to finally be scrapped altogether in 2019
Since the government ended subsidies for solar panels the industry has seen take up collapse
The government has said it is working on a replacement scheme, but in the meantime solar panel providers / installers have no clue as to when
Solar panel installation is down by 94% in 2019
The government said that solar panel users should give their electricity to the main providers for free until a new scheme was put in place
Millions of gallons of water are used in the fracking process, which directly reduces the amount of clean water available to surrounding residents
When water is not available to fracking sites locally, it may be transported from other regions, ultimately drawing down available water from lakes and rivers across the country
Water contamination could also reduce the overall water supply of regional fracking areas, as the chemicals that are used in the process have the propensity to leak back into local water supplies
Waste water is an issue at fracking sites. Between 20% and 40% of the water used for fracking that is returned to the ground surface consists of toxic contaminants
Fracking increases the potential for oil spills, which can harm the soil and surrounding vegetation
Fracking was halted at the Lancashire fracking site on 21st August 2019 due to a 1.6 magnitude tremor
On 23rd August fracking at the Lancashire site was halted again after a 1.05 magnitude tremor
Following suspension of fracking a tremor measuring 2.1 on the Richter scale was recorded at the Lancashire site
On 26 August 2019 the Lancashire Fracking site recorded an Earthquake of 2.9 on the Richter scale, the largest earthquake recorded in the UK due to fracking
One of the main chemicals released in the fracking process is methane, and it is estimated that 4% of it escapes into the atmosphere during extraction
Also the use of gas in providing our energy needs has a large impact on our carbon footprint, as travelling to homes is obviously subject to leaks. This escapes into the atmosphere as methane
In the first two decades after its release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide
The UK has biggest fossil fuel subsidies in the EU
It found £10.5bn a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the £6.8bn spent on renewable energy
The EU found the UK provides £10.5bn a year in support for fossil fuels, significantly more than the £6.8bn spent on renewable energy
These figures are from 2016. Renewable subsidies have been radically cut since the figures were released
On 1 May 2019 Jeremy Corbyn brought a motion to the HoC to declare an environment and climate emergency
It laid out the environmental crisis and stated the Paris accord did not go far enough or fast enough
It advocated a complete change in approach to society and a Green Industrial Revolution to fight Environmental and Climate damage
It lays out that Labour will take serious steps to rebuild our country, but not at the expense of the environment
Labour will give the Fire and Rescue Services a statutory duty to coordinate and respond to floods
A Labour government will prioritise a sustainable, long-term future for our farming, fishing and food industries, fund robust flood resilience, invest in rural and coastal communities, and guarantee the protection and advancement of environmental quality standards
Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act to deal with the Conservative legacy of illegal air quality
Labour will safeguard habitats and species in the ‘blue belts’ of the seas and oceans surrounding our island
Labour will set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes, working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste</span
Labour will work with farmers and foresters to plant a million trees of native species to promote biodiversity and better flood management
Unlike the Conservatives who attempted to privatise our forests, Labour will keep them in public hands
Labour will establish a science innovation fund, working with farmers and fisheries, that will include support for our small-scale fishing fleet
In partnership with the to be created Investment Bank, Labour will invest in Green Jobs
Labour will get workers into highly paid skilled jobs that make us world leaders in promoting environmental solutions
It laid out the environmental crisis and stated the Paris accord did not go far enough or fast enough
It advocated a complete change in approach to society and a Green Industrial Revolution to fight Environmental and Climate damage
It lays out that Labour will take serious steps to rebuild our country, but not at the expense of the environment
Labour will give the Fire and Rescue Services a statutory duty to coordinate and respond to floods
A Labour government will prioritise a sustainable, long-term future for our farming, fishing and food industries, fund robust flood resilience, invest in rural and coastal communities, and guarantee the protection and advancement of environmental quality standards
Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act to deal with the Conservative legacy of illegal air quality
Labour will safeguard habitats and species in the ‘blue belts’ of the seas and oceans surrounding our island
Labour will set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes, working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste</span
Labour will work with farmers and foresters to plant a million trees of native species to promote biodiversity and better flood management
Unlike the Conservatives who attempted to privatise our forests, Labour will keep them in public hands
Labour will establish a science innovation fund, working with farmers and fisheries, that will include support for our small-scale fishing fleet
In partnership with the to be created Investment Bank, Labour will invest in Green Jobs
Labour will get workers into highly paid skilled jobs that make us world leaders in promoting environmental solutions