This week sees the release of party manifestos. I thought I’d summarise their offerings on climate here, with a view to assessing whether any of them are worth voting for. Climate policy is not in any way equivalent in magnitude to most of the other policies on offer – more GP appointments, more nurseries, more cops, etc. Climate policy in a very real sense is existential: it determines whether you have the sort of country that can afford to do any of the things it wants to do.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Today, the day of the moon, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrats to release their policy platform. What do they say about climate?

Climate change is an existential threat. Soaring temperatures leading to wildfires, floods, droughts and rising sea levels are affecting millions of people directly, and billions more through falling food production and rising prices. Urgent action is needed – in the UK and around the world – to achieve net zero and avert catastrophe.

i) no it isn’t;

ii) food production is growing, and those things would have happened anyway, or worse;

iii) at least they mention “the world” here. Going it alone is not an option.

What are they promising?

Liberal Democrats are committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045 at the latest.

What they did here is, take 5 years off the existing “legally-binding” target. Why 5 years? No special reason. Just to look more green than the others.

They will, or would, if we let them:

• Make homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a ten-year emergency upgrade programme, starting with free insulation and heat pumps for those on low incomes, and ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon.
• Drive a rooftop solar revolution by expanding incentives for households to install solar panels, including a guaranteed fair price for electricity sold back into the grid.
• Invest in renewable power so that 90% of the UK’s electricity is generated from renewables by 2030.
• Appoint a Chief Secretary for Sustainability in the Treasury to ensure that the economy is sustainable, resource-efficient and zero-carbon, establish a new Net Zero Delivery Authority to coordinate action across government departments and work with devolved administrations, and hand more powers and resources to local councils for local net zero strategies.
• Establish national and local citizens’ assemblies to give people real involvement in the decisions needed to tackle climate change.
• Restore the UK’s role as a global leader on climate change, by returning international development spending to 0.7% of national income, with tackling climate change a key priority for development spending.

Well, what’s not to like there? Almost all of it, I think. All new houses zero carbon? What are they going to be made of? The only thing that they have going for them is that their 2030 renewable electricity target is 10% less absurd than Labour’s.

Back tomorrow with the doomed incumbents’ offerings.