Labour Drops Net Zero Carbon By 2030 Pledge

Renewable energy in Cumbria would be essential for the Labour Party to deliver on its manifesto pledge to significantly cut carbon emissions in the next decade.

Interestingly though, the party quietly dropped the net zero carbon by 2030 pledge that had originally been agreed by members at its conference in September. The pledge, originally brought by grassroots campaign group Labour for a Green New Deal, was toned down after pressures from trade unions.

GMB in particular argued that the original pledge would lead to mass job losses, which it could not support.

Tim Roache GMB’s general secretary had previously warned: “The proposal to do it by 2030 threatens whole communities, threatens jobs, and frankly GMB members in communities right up and down the UK have heard it all before.”

He had also warned that the target would have left families unable to use petrol cars or take a flight abroad more than once every five years, and was therefore unachievable.

Instead, the party has pledged to ‘forge a pathway’ towards net zero by 2030, according to Rebecca Long-Bailey. This was reportedly welcomed by Labour for a Green New Deal, according to The Guardian.

This latest general election, due to be held on 12 December this year, has had a much greater focus on the environment than the 2017 election. Pollution and plastic have been hot topics in recent years, so it has been good to see carbon emissions as a measure of climate harm back as the focus of discussion.