Greens promise ‘bold action’ on environment at Hackney launch

Bold: Caroline Lucas reveals environmental manifesto. Photograph: Green party

Green party co-leader Caroline Lucas pledged to “end the monopoly of the Big Six energy companies” and wipe out plastic waste during a speech in Hackney today.

The Brighton Pavilion MP was addressing activists at the party’s environmental manifesto launch in Stoke Newington’s Woodberry Wetlands, which was opened last year by legendary conservationist Sir David Attenborough.

Lucas said: “The environment has been wilfully ignored by the political mainstream and our climate and our countryside will pay the price of an environment-free election.

“With 2016 the hottest year on record, and a climate-denier in the White House, the need for bold and dynamic action on climate change has never been more urgent.”

The Greens plan to gatecrash what they describe as a monopolised energy system by “building democratic, locally owned alternatives” and forcing grid operators to give priority access to community projects.

Lucas added: “The UK must lead the world in building a green economy and investing in a viable future – one that respects and nurtures the natural systems on which we depend.”

The party also promised to stop “16 million plastic bottles ending up in the environment every day” by introducing a bottle deposit scheme. Similar systems have boosted collection rates of drinks containers in Germany to 98.5 per cent and 96 per cent in Norway.

Perhaps the most ambitious announcement was a plan to create a new energy regulator and a court to govern a reworked Environmental Protection Act.

Ahead of Brexit, the party wants to introduce the new legislation to “protect important EU regulations, and enshrine long-term goals for the environment into law”.

Lucas concluded by saying: “Our economic prosperity depends on the natural world. It is the ultimate source of everything we make and use – from food and materials, to the air we breathe. Even the digital economy depends on rare earth metals and huge amounts of energy.

“Building a successful economy is not at odds with protecting our environment, it is impossible without it. A prosperous, thriving future will be green – or not at all.”