Act Now: A Green New Deal

Our society needs to transition to a more sustainable mode: lower carbon emissions, less air and water pollution, more liveable cities and regeneration of nature. To achieve these goals requires a linked set of reforms that touch every area policy discussed in this book. Government investment needs to be reorganized with improving sustainability as a central criterion. Private investment in green projects must be leveraged through tax incentives. New oil and gas licences must end, with a quadruple lock for workers whose industries are affected. The government needs to invest a minimum of £28 billion annually in decarbonising and expanding the energy supply, and reducing energy expenditure and emissions. Progressively higher standards are needed in terms of protecting our air and water, and making sure developments are planned around walking, cycling and public transport. To facilitate this, social control over energy, water and transport networks needs to be reasserted, and devolved to community level in line with the community wealth principle. Public investment in the countryside needs to be directed to regenerating nature rather than intensifying production, and community nature regeneration projects should be encouraged. Large areas of our seas need to be set aside for nature. These are not issues for other species – we humans cannot survive without these measures.

The Green New Deal is our response to the great challenge of our age. But the challenge of our age is also the opportunity of our age. The Green New Deal is an exciting, inspirational project for society that people can take pride in, that can improve their wellbeing, that can row back the rise of inequality, and that can reconnect people to the idea that democracy and their state can serve them.