People are looking for green political leadership

It’s easy for environmentalists to despair about ever making green concerns a central issue in election campaigns or on the doorstep.  Polls show that policies on the environment are a long way down the list of people’s priorities when they think about how to vote, and things have arguably got worse in recent years, as concerns about the economy have grown to dominate all aspects of political debate.  So how can political parties, including Labour, put the environment at the heart of their programmes, and should they even try to do so?

The answer to the second question is an unequivocal ‘yes’.  We face an environmental crisis, both in the UK and globally, as the climate warms and wildlife declines, but this is not just a disaster for the natural environment.  People across the world, and particularly in the poorest countries, are suffering as floods and drought increase, crops fail, deserts expand and diseases such as malaria spread to new areas.

In the face of these growing and terrifying problems, it’s no surprise that people do care about the environment, even if it’s not always the first thing they mention when canvassers knock on their doors.  Millions of people are members of environmental organisations – including WWF – and polling reveals a broadly progressive approach to green issues.  So perhaps the first lesson for Labour is to be bold in leading on the environment, and to ignore the frothing climate scepticism of an unrepresentative fringe.  People want their Government to take action on climate change, and support developments – including wind turbines – that support this end, whatever papers like the Mail and the Express might want you to think.

So what about that ‘doorstep pitch’?  Labour politicians have correctly identified people’s passion for the places where they live as one way to build support for environmental action.  We all love our local parks, green spaces and woodlands, and policies that will protect these places, and ensure that everyone has access to them, are strongly supported.

But Labour should also turn the economic debate to its advantage.  There is a strong story to tell about the green economy, and the ‘green industrial revolution’ identified by Ed Miliband.  Investing in green infrastructure and technologies is the best way to create new, sustainable, long-term jobs, while also protecting the things we value.  The biggest infrastructure projects coming forward in the UK are low carbon, and the green economy – which already employs more than 3% of our workforce – grew by almost 5% in 2011 while the wider economy stagnated.  This is about real jobs and economic growth – which should be vote-winners in communities up and down the country.

The green economy can grow further, but we need strong political leadership to make that happen.  No mixed messages on decarbonisation.  No blowing hot and cold on renewable energy.  No mad rush for the fool’s gold of fracking.  Labour needs to show it has the right strategy and vision if it is to reap the economic and electoral dividend of the green industrial revolution.

Ben Stafford is Head of Public Affairs at WWF-UK. He’ll be speaking at the Fabian Summer Conference “Green Labour” tomorrow at the Royal College of Surgeons (tickets are still available)