Brown's Green New Deal must have 'action today, not green gestures for tomorrow'

In response to today’s ‘low carbon summit’ launched by Gordon Brown, Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

“It’s welcome that Gordon Brown is saying that he plans to tackle the economic and climate crisis together through a green new deal, but he must be very careful not to co-opt green language, while continuing to deliver black, high carbon projects. He cannot say our industrial landscape will be ‘transformed’ by building new coal power stations and relying on carbon capture technology that doesn’t exist to green them. We need action today, not green gestures for tomorrow.

“The real danger is that today’s summit will simply dress up ‘business as usual’ with promises of future green ideals, when Brown should be showing real international leadership through a radical and real move to a low carbon economy through a radical and real green new deal, for example by massive investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to create thousands of new green collar jobs and providing secure places for people to invest their savings and pensions.”

ENDS

For more information, please call:

Kate Blagojevic
Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345, Email: kate.blagojevic@wdm.org.uk