Former US vice president and climate campaigner Al Gore has said he is “puzzled” by recent UK Government moves to cancel a raft of green policies.
Speaking at an event in London in the run-up to crucial talks to secure a new global deal on tackling climate change, Mr Gore questioned moves made by the Conservatives since the election to curb support for clean technology and energy efficiency.
“As a friend of the United Kingdom, I must tell you with all candour I am puzzled,” Mr Gore said, pointing to commitments to zero-carbon homes and buildings, the flagship “green deal” energy efficiency programme and support for solar farms and onshore wind which had all been cancelled.
Vehicle excise duty which favoured cleaner cars had been weakened, the prevention of fracking in carefully protected areas reversed and “feed in tariffs” subsidies for small-scale solar power had been cut by 87%, he said.
Mr Gore said he did not want to be partisan, but added: “The actions that have been taken here in the last few months are puzzling to me”.
When the UK had offered leadership on moral issues the world has moved, he said.
On tackling climate change, he asked: “Will the UK provide the leadership that its friends around the world have so long admired?
“There are very few of those great moral questions that we have encountered in the past from abolition to women’s suffrage, to civil rights, to gay and lesbian rights, very few of these questions where the UK has not been heard loudly and clearly.
“This is such a question because it involves the survival of humankind.”
Mr Gore, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) science body for work on climate change in 2007, said he was optimistic that the world could tackle the problem, because of the falling costs of clean technology.
And he reassured the audience that the agreement which countries hope to secure at the UN climate talks in Paris in December did not have to be ratified by the US Congress, so “there will not be a reversal of what President Obama agrees to in Paris”.
The former US vice president’s comments add to the growing disquiet about the energy and climate policy moves made by the new Government.
John Cridland, director general of leading business group the CBI, said business wanted to be part of the solution to tackle climate change and the green economy was growing fast – with a global climate deal set to “turbo-charge” it.
But the Government was sending a “worrying signal” by rolling back on renewables support and sending mixed messages on backing for energy efficiency, he warned.
Despite the credibility on climate leadership and low-carbon investment the UK had built up, investors were more uncertain about the country’s clean future today, he told the conference organised by think-tank Green Alliance.
“From the roll-back of renewables to the mixed messages on energy efficiency, these changes send a worrying signal about the UK as a place for low-carbon investment.
“Moreover, this seemingly weakened commitment risks impacting our standing on the global stage, at the exact moment we need to stand up and be counted,” he warned.
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