*Demand to end all fossil fuel subsidies and windfall tax
loopholes
*Call for carbon tax to fund renewable energy and home insulation
With the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched
[1] on the day BP has announced record profits [2] and greenhouse
gas emissions are confirmed to have increased by 5% between 2020
and 2021 [3], the Green Party has called for the new department
to “genuinely focus all its energy on achieving Net Zero”.
The Party's co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, has called for a carbon tax
in order to move the "grotesque profits" of fossil fuel companies
into funding a huge push towards renewable energy and a mass home
insulation programme.
Ramsay said:
“Having dumped the Department of Energy and Climate Change some
seven years ago, the Tories have decided to resurrect it in a new
guise: the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. This
department must genuinely focus all its energy on achieving Net
Zero. It must stop all fossil fuel subsidies and end the
perverseness of allowing energy companies to avoid windfall taxes
on their grotesque profits by investing in further exploitation
of oil and gas reserves.
“A carbon tax is one of the greatest levers we can apply to help
shift us towards the clean green economy we need in order to cut
climate wrecking emissions and create a fairer healthier society
[4]. Companies like BP, Shell and other big polluters have been
responsible for three quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas
emissions since 1988 [5]. A carbon tax would target these big
polluters and provide the funding to move us towards a renewable
energy economy and a mass home insulation programme. This would
cut domestic energy bills and keep people warm.”
Notes
[1] Sunak reshuffle: Shapps named
energy secretary in department shake-up - BBC News
[2] BP scales back climate targets
as profits hit record - BBC News
[3] UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2021: summary (publishing.service.gov.uk)
[4] Greens call on government to
bring in carbon tax at COP26 | The Green Party
[5] Just 100 companies responsible
for 71% of global emissions, study says | Guardian sustainable
business | The Guardian
