Spending review ‘fails’ green agenda
‘The funding put towards green initiatives is nowhere near enough to meet our moral and international obligations to reduce our carbon impact.'
The government has failed to put the climate emergency at the heart of its 2020 Spending Review, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has said, tweeting: ‘We urgently need a climate plan with public investment in green jobs, public services and climate justice.’
The comments came after the chancellor Rishi Sunak set out a spending review on 25 November which pledged £23.5 billion for the Department for Transport (DfT), partly to decarbonise rail and buses.
Climate campaigners said the funding falls far short of what is needed to reach net-zero and claimed the £257 million grant for cycling infrastructure is a fraction of the £2bn that the government has previously promised. The chancellor also pledged ‘the biggest ever investment in new roads’.
‘The funding put towards green initiatives is nowhere near enough to meet our moral and international obligations to reduce our carbon impact,’ the Quakers in Britain website claimed.
Paul Parker, recording clerk of BYM, said: ‘We set out our suggestions on how to achieve [a fairer and greener society] in our submission to the spending review. We were disappointed today to see how greatly the government’s priorities differ from our own. We will continue to work with politicians from all parties to try to bring about positive change.’
Shaun Spiers, executive director of Green Alliance, said: ‘The chancellor gave no sense that he understands the scale of the climate and nature emergencies or the potential of the green economy for immediate job creation across the country.’
Friends have also criticised the pledge announced by Boris Johnson last month to increase UK military spending by £16.5bn, compared to £3-8bn in new funding for green recovery. This is ‘a deeply damaging and worrying decision’ the Peace & Disarmament team for Quaker Peace & Social Witness tweeted on 19 November.
