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As IPPC warns of 'Code Red’ for humanity, IPPR demands a
‘people-first’ approach with direct public involvement in
decisions
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A win-win approach can also deliver ‘people’s dividend’ of
free local public transport, good new jobs and better health
and wellbeing
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Fairness lock’ on transition is essential, warns head of
cross-party commission – otherwise the public hold won’t
consent to net zero process
Responding to today's IPCC report warning of a ‘Code Red’ for
humanity over climate change, the head of IPPR’s cross-party
Environmental Justice Commission has called on the government to
end its dithering over plans to reach net zero.
Luke Murphy, head of the IPPR Environmental Justice
Commission, said:
"The IPCC report is crystal clear - we're running out of time
on the 1.5℃ target. The impacts of the climate crisis are already
with us - flooding, heatwaves and wildfires have all been made
more likely, and these and other threats will only multiply and
worsen in future.
"The time for talk, half measures, dithering and delay has
passed: we need action from world leaders and we need it now. As
the host of COP26, the UK government has a unique responsibility
to show leadership at home by putting in place plans to rapidly
reduce emissions while also using all of its diplomatic skill to
achieve consensus abroad.
"Despite these dire warnings, however, we cannot take public
consent for the transition to a greener economy for granted.
People must be at the heart of the UK’s rapid transition to
net zero, or it won’t succeed. Moreover the plans we make must be
fair to everyone and make the UK fairer for all. Only through
this ‘fairness lock’ will we win the support of the people we
need to make this national ambition a reality.
“IPPR's Environmental Justice Commission recently set out a
comprehensive blueprint for change, developed with the help of
people across the UK. Crucially, it shows how we can tackle the
climate and nature crises in a way that creates opportunity,
improves lives for people everywhere, and builds a fairer society
for us all.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- IPPR’s cross-party
Environmental Justice Commission’s blueprint for a fair
transition to net zero, Fairness and Opportunity: A
people-powered plan for the green transition, was published
last month and can be read here: https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/fairness-and-opportunity
- The report says that
the UK is failing to ensure that the costs and benefits of the
transition to net zero will be fairly shared. It also says the
government has no coherent plan to make the most of the
opportunities presented by this fundamental change in the
country’s economic model.
Its 100-plus recommendations amount to a comprehensive
blueprint of how to go about this. Policies that the commission
says would ensure the move to net zero also contributes to a
vital “people’s dividend” include:
- Upgrade local public transport and make it free to
all users throughout the UK by 2030, with free bus
travel by 2025 as a first step.
- Launch a £7.5 billion-a-year “GreenGO scheme”: a
financial one-stop shop, akin to the government’s Help
to Buy scheme, to help households switch to green alternatives
on heating, home insulation and transport - enabling warmer,
more affordable and greener homes and cleaner travel.
- Sharply step up public investment in a low
carbon economy, raising it by £30 billion a year throughout the
UK until at least 2030 and contributing to levelling up across
the economy.
- Offer all workers in high-carbon industries the right
to retrain for new low-carbon jobs, while supporting
businesses everywhere to make the transition.
- Establish a permanent, UK-wide climate and nature
assembly, alongside a new law to ensure that all
business and policy decisions must take account of their
impact on future generations.
- Involve communities everywhere in decisions that will affect
them, so that choices reflect local priorities and needs and
secure more support. This would include granting
English combined and local authorities new powers over economic
strategy, transport and planning and giving the public
a direct say over how local budgets are spent.
- The commission was
created in 2019 with the aim of working with people across the UK
to develop policies and ideas that will tackle the climate crisis
and restore nature as quickly and fairly as possible. The
commission is co-chaired by MP, and , leading
politicians from the Labour, Conservative and Green Parties.
Find out more here: https://www.ippr.org/environment-and-justice
