We have heard the howls of pain as the Chancellor slashed welfare in the July budget, but more muted, but just as agonising is the pain felt by many as the Climate Change Levy on polluting companies is removed.
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party leader said “News of methane plumes and record ice melt in the Arctic should be worrying us. The physical evidence of climate change becomes more dramatic every year: forests retreating, animals moving north, glaciers melting, wildfire seasons getting longer, higher rates of droughts, floods, and storms – the list just keeps on growing.
“The displacement of 100 million people in low lying countries should be top of the list in our concerns, yet the Tory government is expanding North Sea oil investment and riding roughshod over homeowner rights to frack yet more fossil fuels which will increase greenhouse gases at the very time we should be reducing them. Climate change will exacerbate human displacement in war zones and bring many more immigrants to our shores.
“If that is not enough, we already have 50 coastal communities in Wales abandoned by the Welsh Government to the rising seas. Householders who cannot get insurance, who will find it difficult to sell their houses, who wait in dread for the next winter gale, should be in our minds every day. It is time we helped these people, and the many who will sadly follow as a result of ever more biased decisions in favour of fossil fuel companies.”
Climate scientists have been ridiculed and hunted down by the fossil fuel lobby, yet in the face of a barrage of personal attacks, their message remains stark and clear. We are heading for in excess of 4 degrees of global warming.
Pippa Bartolotti added, “Climate change is a creeping sickness, and the most important issue of our times, but if we move to cut greenhouse gases, rebalance our economy towards waste reduction, and tax the biggest polluters, we could reduce emission by 70% in 2030.
A house built to passivhaus standards reduces fuel bills to a staggering £12 a year. Addressing climate change can be a win-win, taking us all out of fuel poverty, slashing bills and reducing pollution.
“There is a clear route for every country to take which will remove this terrible threat to our lives, and give other species a fighting chance for survival. There will not be social justice or anything else of value on an uninhabitable planet.”