Sunak’s £3bn green pledge: not enough for climate or jobs

London climate strike 20 September 2019, photo Paul Mattsson, photo Paul Mattsson

London climate strike 20 September 2019, photo Paul Mattsson, photo Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised £3 billion of green investment. Goals include ‘decarbonising’ public buildings, insulating private homes, and creating work. That’s all well and good – but, er, what about power plants, or transport?

By contrast, the French government has pledged £13.5 billion, and the German government £36 billion! Even those figures will not be enough to loosen the profit-polluters’ grip on the world economy. But they might create a few more jobs than the Tories’ miserly £3 billion.

Fundamentally what is needed is public ownership of energy and transport – with full funding, not £3 billion sops. With big business profit out of the equation, production could be planned. Fossil fuels could be eradicated without loss of jobs, or extra costs for the working class.