26th April 2005

What steps will your party take to tackle global warming?

Greens have been at the forefront of developing the internationally acclaimed ‘contraction and convergence’ system to achieve equitable CO2 reductions worldwide. For the UK we want CO2 reductions of 20% by 2010 and 40% by 2020; achieved by subsidizing solar roofs, improved energy efficiency, transfering the £30 billion earmarked for road building into public transport, phasing out nuclear energy, stopping subsidies for aviation and investment in renewable energy like offshore wind and tidal. Our MEPs have also called for WTO sanctions against the US for failing to support reductions which effectively give their exporters an unlawful state subsidy.


What steps will your party take to tackle Britain's transport problems?

A working, affordable public transport network is key to tackling climate change and creating a more equitable society. Greens would end aviations’ yearly £9 billion tax break and Labour’s £30 billion road-building programme and instead invest in public transport; return the railways to public ownership when the franchises come-up for renewal and re-regulate the buses for lower prices and better services. Greens want better planning to encourage more walking and cycling, out-of town retail developments restricted, more fuel efficient cars by scraping the tax disc and increasing fuel tax, plus more local production for local consumption to reduce ‘food miles’. 

What steps would you take in Parliament, to reduce waste and conserve resources in homes and communities?  

- Greens would go further than 50% recycled. We support zero waste by focusing on reducing, reusing and recycling, not landfill or incineration. This target-based strategy could be achieved in the UK within 20-30 years with the development of new technology and application of commitment. The UK is at the bottom of Europe's recycling tables and is the only country in Europe that looks to incineration as the solution to reducing landfill. It is easy and convenient but ignores the its serious heath effects and the contribution to climate change.

Countries such as New Zealand have set a target date for total waste elimination without incineration by 2020. Xerox adopted a Zero Waste strategy and managed to save $47 million.

In the UK the government's waste plans in response to the EU Landfill Directive will leave the UK in a worse position than we are now by 2020. To avoid being left behind the government must appoint a zero waste minister to put in place legislative, educative and other measures to achieve zero-waste by 2020.

- Reducing packaging is a key strategy to reducing waste - Germany shifted the costs of collecting, sorting and recycling used packaging from municipal government to private industry. In its first four years it cut packaging consumption by a million tons and packaging overall became lighter and smaller, with lower-fee cardboard replacing higher-fee plastic and glass. In 2000, German consumers carried home 17% less packaging than in 1991. In 2000, the system recovered 93% of its plastics and 91% of its glass. It is time Britain followed Germany and other countries down this route.

- Greens would go down a similar way with most products to ensure they get recycled. For example we recently called for car manufacturers to be responsible for their end product. Of course they'll pass such costs on to their customers - the buyers of new cars. However unlike the owners who abandon their cars these people are not on low income, and can afford to pay the relatively tiny extra amount. Labour however prefers to listen to their car manufacturer friends who dislike the idea of being responsible for their products. This means in reality people on low income, society as a whole, and the environment are made to pay.

How much do you think having a stable economy will influence voters ? 

The stable economy is an illusion. The just released Millennium Assessment - work by 1300 scientists in 95 countries and backed by the UN and World Bank - bears this out. It concludes we are living beyond our means and that threatening 'the Earth's ability to sustain future generations.'  Look around the world and you see inequality, debt, environmental degradation and poverty all growing.

The big three parties policies do nothing to seriously address climate change, inequality and our future. Clever financing like PFI schemes mean new hospital and school buildings, but we will be paying for these several times over during the next 30 years, making vast profits for corporations.

Our economic system is at fault.  A greener economy shapes economics to people's needs, not the other way around. Greens believe in measuring economic benefits in terms of quality of life, development of people and care for the environment, as well as money in the bank. Europe is increasingly being run for the benefit of multinationals, not its citizens. Real economic progress involves encouraging more local, smaller businesses - the real backbone of the economy - rather than the multinationals, which wield huge power but provide relatively few jobs. Real Progress involves making sure everyone has a high minimum standard of living, including pensioners having their income linked to earnings.