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

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.