A new law to ensure the UK’s electricity system is largely free from dirty and expensive fossil fuels by 2030 is David Cameron’s last chance to keep his promise – made two years ago today (Monday 14 May 2012) – to lead the 'greenest Government ever', says Friends of the Earth.

The environment charity says the forthcoming Energy Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech last week, is a unique opportunity to make our power system cleaner and more affordable for hard-pressed households.

A clean energy system would also be popular with the public. A recent YouGov poll, published to mark the launch of Friends of the Earth’s new campaign Clean British Energy, showed that 85 per cent of the public want David Cameron to force the Big Six energy firms to develop energy from renewable sources – and ditch dirty coal and gas.

Despite the Government’s initial environmental promise the Coalition’s record on green issues has been distinctly poor.

A Friends of the Earth report, written by Jonathon Porritt and published last year, revealed little or no progress in over three quarters of the environmental pledges made by the Government. Since then, as a Friends of the Earth briefing (below) shows, the Government’s environmental credentials have continued to decline with:

•           The Government firing the starting pistol for a renewed ‘dash for gas’ that could make UK climate targets impossible to meet and keep household energy bills high;

•           A Budget that will lead to a major increase in UK carbon emissions;

•           Increasingly hostile speeches from George Osborne who appears to view the environment as a barrier to economic growth – despite the Chancellor’s pre-election pledge to put Britain “in the lead of developing the low carbon economy and financing a green recovery.”

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

“The Energy Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix our broken energy system – and give some much-needed credibility to the Prime Minister’s pledge to lead the greenest Government ever.

“The Government must support clean British energy to tackle rocketing fuel bills and generate new jobs and industries that could buck the double-dip recession.

“David Cameron and his Lib Dem colleagues called for a strong clean economy in opposition – it’s crucial they deliver in power.

“Labour must take action too - Ed Miliband must do more to champion green issues to raise them up the political agenda.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1.      Last month Friends of the Earth launched anew energy campaign urging the Government to invest in clean British energy with new research showing 85 per cent of Brits would like to see the Government increasing the use of clean British energy and reducing the use of overseas gas.

2.      A new Friends of the Earth briefing gives more information on the Government’s environmental record over the past year.

3.      A Friends of the Earth report – written by former Executive Director Jonathon Porritt – and published on the first anniversary (7 May 2011) of David Cameron’s pledge to lead the greenest Government ever revealed that the Government had failed to deliver on most of its key green pledges and many policies had been delayed, watered down or even abandoned. The report examined 77 green policies - and found little or no progress in over three quarters of them (58).

4.      Last month David Cameron told an international clean energy conference “When I became Prime Minister, I said that Britain would have the greenest government ever. And that is exactly what we have.”

5.      Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gave a green speech last month supporting a green economy saying “Our dilemma is not choosing between green and growth. It's marrying the two.”

6.      The Committee on Climate Change said: “any path to an 80% reduction by 2050 requires that electricity generation is almost entirely decarbonised by 2030”. For more information see:

7.      Budget tax breaks for oil and gas will add ayear's worth of emissions, says Friends of the Earth.