When Keir Starmer arrives in Liverpool this weekend promising an upbeat tone to Labour’s first conference in power for 15 years, he will boast of his party’s strong start to its first 82 days in government.
In just the last two months, the new government has made more green reforms than Rishi Sunak did in his entire premiership and Labour has plenty to celebrate: it has taken the first steps to crack down on water companies and clean up our filthy rivers; stopping oil and gas licences, and withdrawing support for a new coalmine; setting up a new renewable company, Great British Energy; a green light for new on and offshore windfarms; and an international charm offensive to signal renewed UK leadership in climate and nature diplomacy; alongside a host of smaller changes.
But when the prime minister stands up to speak, the squads of green policy experts and green businesses and investors who are set to gather in Liverpool will be listening carefully for his emphasis.
For net zero to succeed, Starmer must make it a core priority for Downing Street and Whitehall. So far, the flurry of green-tinged policy activity has centred on two core departments, the revamped Department for Energy Security and Net Zero led by, Ed Milibandand the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs led by Steve Reed.
This week, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, also joined in, vowing before an audience of diplomats from around the world to make the climate and nature “central to all the Foreign Office does”.
What has been missing so far are clear plans from the rest of the government to make their own contributions to net zero. From transport – the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions – to industry and housing, reaching net zero will depend heavily on departments that do not have “net zero” in their title.
Department for Transport
Emissions from transport have remained stubbornly high for more than a decade,and experts say more radical solutions are needed than just mandating that new car sales must be electric by 2030, a target that has already been watered down to allow hybrid petrol/electric vehicles to count.
Labour has made a start on this, with the renationalisation of the railways a core manifesto promise. Bus routes will also be revived, under new legislation to allow local authorities to take back control of them.
But Reeves has cancelled infrastructure projects in her quest to shave billions from government spending and there is no programme to revive the northern leg of HS2.
Perhaps more significantly, airport expansion also falls under the DfT’s remit. London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports, as well as several others across the country, including Luton, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, are pleading for expansion. That cannot happen without correspondingly large emissions cuts elsewhere, the Climate Change Committee has said. Yet Reeves has repeatedly mentioned airport expansion recently as a way to foster economic growth.
Verdict: It will take more than Louise Haigh on a bike to make the massive emissions cuts needed from transport – tough decisions on air, rail and SUVs cannot be avoided for long.