Climate1 min read

Fight the climate crisis or go for growth? There is a way Burnham can do both | Jonathan Freedland

By · Via The Guardian Politics · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The administration recently backed the Jackdaw gasfield and a third runway at Heathrow, triggering backlash from climate scientists who point to record-high global emissions. Minsters are also weighing whether to approve the massive Rosebank oilfield off Shetland and considering potential adjustments to electric vehicle mandates for carmakers. Experts recommend managing this economic tension by targeting energy demand reduction rather than focusing exclusively on limiting fossil fuel supplies. Despite progress in renewable generation and rising hybrid and electric car sales, sectors like aviation still lack viable low-emission alternatives.

Key points

  • Government ministers face difficult decisions over whether to approve the Rosebank oilfie…: Government ministers face difficult decisions over whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield and soften electric vehicle targets.
  • Experts recommend resolving climate tensions by focusing on reducing overall fossil fuel…: Experts recommend resolving climate tensions by focusing on reducing overall fossil fuel demand rather than solely restricting fuel supply.
  • Expanding Heathrow poses distinct environmental challenges because viable low-emission al…: Expanding Heathrow poses distinct environmental challenges because viable low-emission alternatives for commercial aviation fuel remain extremely limited.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

For politicians of the centre-left especially, it’s the great dilemma of the age. How do you do what everyone can see is essential to save the planet from boiling – even as your voters demand action to get the economy growing and to make life more affordable? Plenty of activists will tell you there’s no contradiction, that tackling the climate crisis makes economic as well as ecological sense and, in the long term, you know they’re right. But you don’t live in the long term. You’re running the government right now and facing several unavoidable, binary choices.

Andy Burnham is a prime example. This week, he addressed the Cop summit in Antalya, promising “a new era of British leadership” in the struggle against global heating. It’s important to him to talk that way: his political strategy relies on shrinking the appeal of the Green party, whose electoral success earlier this year helped remove his predecessor. But talk only takes you so far. Eventually the words have to be matched by action.

That’s where things get tricky. Last month Burnham’s government…

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