Will we have green growth?

7 October 2010

Each of the four days at the Conservatives' conference had a theme. Under the green growth heading Monday's agenda linked:

• Infrastructure and skills
• The economy
• Work
• Environment and climate change.

Before the conference Friends of the Earth had welcomed this commitment to joined-up thinking.

We need to build a new economy that tackles climate change, lifts people out of poverty, and creates thousands of new low-carbon jobs and businesses.

This will only happen with a dedicated plan for green growth, joined up across government.

Unknowns

But Monday's speeches didn't take us much closer to knowing whether this will happen.

Much of the uncertainty is due to the fact that the Comprehensive Spending Review - which is looking at all government spending - is still a fortnight away.

This means many of the building blocks that would make up a green growth plan have yet to be announced.

Will the Green Bank bring in the investment needed to bring forward a revolution in our energy use? Or will it be a bank with no money, funding a few pet projects?

Will the feed-in tariff - which has boosted local production of green electricity, in homes, businesses and communities since its launch in April - be watered down just as it's starting to have an impact?

And will the Government bring in the renewable heat incentive as promised in April next year? Or will we continue to ignore the almost half of our carbon emissions that come from heat.

Eyes on the Chancellor

We hoped ministers Caroline Spelman, Oliver Letwin and Greg Barker might have answers to these questions when they spoke on the environment platform on Monday. They didn't.

We hoped the the Chancellor George Osborne might clarify things. But he dedicated less than 30 words to green programmes.

We hoped the Prime Minister's speech might fill the gap on Wednesday. But he failed to mention climate change at all.

If we're to have new jobs, lower energy bills, and a planet that can provide for future generations these questions have to be answered.

And the answers have to come on 20 October, when George Osborne announces the results of the spending review.

Please take a moment now to write to George Osborne and get these questions answered.