The Green New Deal: How not to do it

Martin Hemingway

Lead candidate, European elections June 4th.

06 FEB 2009

Today's government announcement of 400,000 "green jobs" misses the point of the Green New Deal, the Green Party said today.

On hearing the plans, Martin Hemingway, lead candidate for Yorkshire and the Humber for the European Elections, said "Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas co-authored the "Green New Deal" proposals launched in July 2008. It has taken Gordon Brown nearly 8 months to respond by ignoring common sense measures that can create green collar jobs now. 

"The Kirklees "Warm Zone" project has shown that homes can be insulated with an immediate payback in job creation, energy savings and lower fuel bills. The government should be taking the scheme nationwide now."

Professor John Whitelegg(1), leading academic and consultant and Green Party spokesperson on sustainable development, said this morning:

"The Brown New Deal is not a Green New Deal. It relies on nuclear power, which is not remotely green and which sustains the fewest jobs per megawatt of any form of electricity generation. 

"Replace nuclear with renewable energy and you will get the same amount of energy with far more jobs, and ultimately at a lower cost.

"Carbon capture is neither zero-carbon nor jobs-rich. The government recently trailed a claim of only 50,000 jobs in so-called 'clean coal' by 2030. But figures soon to be released by the Green Party will show how wind energy could create four times as many jobs ten years sooner."

Professor Whitelegg concludes, "We know how to achieve a zero-carbon economy through jobs-rich green energy policies, so why on earth should we tinker with jobs-poor unproven technology that keeps us dependent on fossil fuels?" 

Martin Hemingway

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1. John Whitelegg is Visiting Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University, Professor in the Dept of Biology at York and at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, and Managing Director of Eco-Logica Ltd transport consultancy based in Lancaster.

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Martin Hemingway:  

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Parliamentary candidate for Leeds North West

Martin Hemingway

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