Meg Hillier: Environment is an opportunity for growth
Green policy news – By GreenWise staff
27th September 2011
The environment is not a cost, but an opportunity for growth, Meg Hillier, Shadow Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, told the Labour Party Conference today.
Attacking the Coalition Government’s record on
green growth,
Hillier said the next
Labour Government would "put the fight against
climate change at the top of its agenda". She said the economic recovery could be built on "low carbon growth", including growing green firms, inventing world-beating technologies and creating green jobs.
She described the Department of Energy and Climate Change as the "laughing stock of Whitehall", undermined by Number 10 and "trampled" by the Treasury.
Hillier said the Green Investment Bank had been "hobbled" under the Coalition, unable to borrow capital. Policies on biofuels, zero carbon homes and charging points for electric vehicles had all been scrapped, she claimed, while the 'Green Deal’ had barely been heard of.
"Ministers call this the 'greenest Government ever’. Never has a claim been so much hot air," Hillier said.
"The next Labour Government will put the fight against climate change at the top of its agenda, not just because it is the morally right thing to do, to save the lives of millions around the world, but also because we can lead the world in new technologies and create green jobs at home," said Hillier.
To view Meg Hillier's full speech click
here.
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