In the wake of the Extinction Rebellion protests and the school strikes led by teenage activist Greta Thunberg, Labour’s motion in Parliament this week meant the UK was the first country in the world to declare a climate emergency.
Future generations will look back in horror at the apathy our current Government has shown towards the climate crisis. Emissions numbers have been fudged. Grand claims that policies were working have been shown up as premature and complacent. Joined up, cross-government strategy to meet our climate goals has been sorely lacking. The Conservatives are still prioritising profit and political expediency over people and the planet.
As a society we cannot keep ignoring the seriousness of this crisis. As politicians, whatever our specialisms, our ministerial or shadow ministerial briefs – in my case, housing – we all need to step up.
Housing is crucial to our green transformation. Household energy use accounts for 14% of our total carbon emissions, and yet it’s an area that often gets overlooked in the climate debate. But making people’s homes more energy efficient is a big part of the answer. It’s a transformational opportunity, a critical stepping stone on the path to a greener future. And right now, progress has flatlined.
Our homes are not fit for the future. We’ve seen a woeful neglect of housing standards under this government, and policies to reduce domestic emissions have been weakened or dropped. A prime example is the Conservative Government’s scrapping of Labour’s Zero Carbon Homes standard in 2015, after almost a decade of preparation by the housebuilding industry. Not only does this have an environmental cost, it has cost owners of new-build homes an average of £200 a year.
Labour will re-introduce the objective for new homes to have a zero-carbon standard – just one of a raft of policies in our green transformation programme. We won’t just kickstart the biggest housebuilding programme in over 30 years, we’ll make sure these homes are energy and water efficient, and climate resilient. Beyond new homes, as part of our commitment to decent, safe, secure homes for the many, we will retrofit existing homes to meet high energy efficiency standards.
Of course, reducing household emissions isn’t just good for the environment. Poorly insulated homes across the UK causes fuel poverty, forcing families to choose between heating and eating. Labour’s comprehensive ‘Decent Homes 2’ programme will improve our housing stock to help cut harmful emissions, improve health and wellbeing for families, cut costs to the NHS, and create new skilled jobs adding a boost to the economy.
We will make sure local authorities and households have the support and financial backing they need to make green, decent housing the norm. To do all this we’ll need a construction industry with the right skills, reversing inexcusable policy failures that have left us with a critical construction skills shortage and apprenticeships plummeting.
Whether it’s housing, transport or business regulation, the climate emergency should be at the heart of our policymaking. Labour recognises this. Our children will never forgive us if we do not act now.
Sarah Jones is the Labour MP for Croydon Central