Very British, but a revolution nonetheless

This week, Labour became the first political party in the world to formally adopt the Green New Deal, an ambitious plan to transform the economy, make society more equal — and heal the planet.

“This is a huge deal: one of the first major political party adoptions of a #GreenNewDeal as an official policy plank,” tweeted Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has led the fight for a Green New Deal in the USA.

Under the plan, the UK would produce net zero carbon emissions by 2030 — just five years later than the deadline demanded by radical activist group, Extinction Rebellion.

“Labour now has the most ambitious net zero plans in the world,” said a party spokesperson. “Conference agreed that these should be achieved through massive investment in infrastructure and skills, public ownership of key utilities and supporting climate transition in the global south.”

So, what does Labour’s Green New Deal look like?

The party would make the UK carbon-neutral by taking control of all public transport in order to provide free or affordable travel; retrofitting all social housing and public buildings to make them energy efficient, and working with farmers to eliminate emissions from agriculture.

A Labour government would also offer support to climate refugees who flee to the UK.

The plan requires huge investment in green energy, spending £83 billion over a decade to create new jobs and entirely new industries.

Meanwhile, the big six energy firms would be nationalised to provide affordable green energy for all. These huge, decarbonisation projects would be funded by taxing the wealthiest in society.

But the party won’t stop there.

At its conference, Labour also committed to abolishing all private schools; extending the vote to 16-year-olds in a second Brexit referendum; ending food bank use in three years, and introducing a four-day working week by 2030.

“The party has adopted a number of extraordinary radical policies which, if it got to carry them out, would transform the country,” said Robert Shrimsley, The Financial Times’s political commentator.

So can the Green New Deal really work?

Brave new world

Its opponents say that the vast amount of money the plan requires simply does not exist, and that there is no practical plan to put the changes in place. Not only is it unrealistic, they argue, but the radical proposals to seize control of massive segments of the economy would lead to chaos on a national scale, and plunge the most vulnerable into destitution.

But more and more economists agree: the economy is broken. Our capitalist system is destroying the planet and creating huge inequality, with millions excluded from opportunity and prosperity. The climate crisis and the financial disasters of the last decade present an opportunity to build a moral economy to benefit everyone and secure humanity’s future. It’s not a question of whether we should do it — we must do it.