We need a new era of fossil free politics. Our pension funds should divest from fossil fuels, our ministers should reject the advances of fossil fuel lobbyists, and our councils and mayors should be supported to transition to a zero carbon economy.
Jenny works with campaigners and industry to promote a more radical policy agenda on climate change.
There is no such thing as sustainable aviation fuel. Too often, we have these grand promises that are never backed up— I would argue that carbon capture and storage is another one. But if the Government are to press ahead with so-called sustainable aviation fuel, the very least we should expect is full transparency about what is being produced, where it is coming from and what the real impacts are Continue reading “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill Committee Stage Day 2”
We need to ensure that our Government listen to a range of experts, not just to those people with loads of cash who can use money and personal contacts to gain access to the detailed discussions. My biggest concerns are monitoring and enforcement: I simply do not understand how those two things will happen in any sort of efficient way. I would like us to become a world leader in pushing for the establishment of marine protected areas in places beyond national jurisdiction. While I am sure that most here would like this Bill to pass so that we can sign up to international law, I would say that it does not go far enough to protect our ocean.
Continue reading “Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill”
There is absolutely no techno fix for the pollution that aviation causes and the Royal Society worked out that to reach net zero for aviation fuel we need at least half the UK’s agricultural land to grow the raw materials. That means less fodder for livestock and higher prices for cereals and food. Last year, the 2025 UK harvest was the second worst on record. If the Government want farmers to grow jet fuel instead of food, prices in the shops are going to rise in order to keep the planes flying. As we enter the era of climate crisis impacting on world food production, our country will have less farming land available but will want more of it devoted to support the oxymoronic idea of sustainable aviation Continue reading “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill”
I intervened yesterday in this debate to say: he Minister said that everybody around the House supports nuclear. No, the Green Party does not support nuclear. It is a dinosaur technology and it is really very expensive, when you look at the planetary impact and the cost to the Exchequer. It is going to be a disaster and it will be overtaken by sea-level rises as well. Why do the Government not take some good advice on this instead of believing in nuclear all the time? Continue reading “Great British Energy: Nuclear Development”
I used to worry about what a seven metre rise in water levels would do to our coastlines and major cities when the Greenland ice sheet melts, but it turns out that, well before that happens, we will be very, very cold Continue reading “Global Warming”
We know the climate is changing; we know that the weather is changing; we know there are more floods and more droughts; so it is very short-sighted not to include environmental sustainability when you are worried about the future of clubs and their financial sustainability Continue reading “Football Governance Bill Committee Stage”
The Minister and their civil servants clearly hadn’t read the new research papers as they replied that “They do not represent a significant update to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” Continue reading “My Q to HMG on AMOC collapse”
The fact is that electric vehicles will not help with climate change emissions unless all those charging points are run from renewable energy. Electric vehicles will not completely cut roadside pollution. They will not, for example, cut the particulates coming off tyres and brakes, which is quite a big factor in air pollution. Electric vehicles will not stop congestion or cut the number of people killed or injured on our roads—the statistics are horrifying at the moment. There are also environmental trade-offs. Building any car takes raw materials, sometimes toxic materials, and adds to the planetary burden that we humans create. Continue reading “Electric Vehicle Strategy”
Jenny’s long standing campaign to stop incineration and raise the alarm over CO2 emissions and local air pollution has been joined by Greenpeace. They have teamed up with Exinction rebellion and UK Without Incinerators to deleiver a 10 point action plan to the PM for a swift shift to a circular economy.
Noting social justice concerns, the action plan stresses that better measures to curb pollution from incinerators are urgently required. It points out that incinerators are “imposed on communities against their will, harming their air quality without their consent” and that these plants “are more likely to be built in poorer areas and in areas with higher racial and ethnic diversity”. Greenpeace data has shown that UK waste incinerators are three times as likely to be located in deprived areas.
Jenny met them at the Big One weekend of protests in London, saying that “Everyone deserves clean air”
A key green party demand is to stop more incinerators being built and for councils to withdraw from the long term contracts that have such a negative impact on recycling rates.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 