Former Tory cabinet ministers have formed a group to pressure the government to improve its green policies in the hope of making it “credible” in the next general election.
Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president, is urging Rishi Sunak to have a “bold and positive environmental agenda” in the next general election. He joins the former transport secretary Chris Grayling and Simon Clarke, who was the levelling up secretary, in calling for more ambitious climate policies.
They will sit on the new steering committee for the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), a group of 159 Tory MPs who pressure the government to improve its green offering. The group was formed a decade ago.
The ministers will be calling for Sunak to adopt ambitious policies to unlock more onshore and offshore renewables, improve home energy efficiency, incentivise sustainable transport options, clean up rivers and seas and reward farmers for using nature-friendly practices.
In recent weeks, Sunak and government ministers including the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, have criticised the Labour party for its green energy policies and the fact one of its donors also donates to the campaign group Just Stop Oil.
There are fears among green Conservatives that despite hosting Cop26 and announcing a range of environmental initiatives, the Tories are in danger of losing credibility on the matter, while Labour commits to policies that include ending the moratorium on onshore wind, and vastly expanding green energy.
In addition, the Tories have recently given the green light to a coalmine in Cumbria, which the government’s own net zero tsar, Chris Skidmore, said should never have been approved. Their focus appears to be on the more expensive routes such as carbon capture and storage, and nuclear power rather than cheaper, proven solutions such as insulation and onshore wind.
Sharma said: “Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. As the UK showed at Cop26, the leadership of a country with a small share of the world’s emissions can make a big difference, raising global ambitions and creating new jobs and industries at home.
“The Conservative Environment Network has been a critical voice in keeping environmentalism at the heart of successive Conservative governments. I look forward to working with its many members to ensure the government has a bold and positive environmental agenda ahead of the next election.”
The new group also includes the 2019 Conservative manifesto co-author Rachel Wolf, the environmental audit committee chair and MP, Philip Dunne and the MPs Katherine Fletcher and Selaine Saxby.
While the Labour party attempts to focus on green issues and make them a key part of its manifesto offering, there are debates among Conservatives about whether it is worth reaching climate goals at all.
Sam Hall, the director of the CEN, added: “While some conservatives remain sceptical, they are in the minority, with almost half of Conservative MPs signing up to CEN’s principles during this parliament.
“The debate has moved to focus on how we deliver on our climate and nature goals in a way that enhances our prosperity and security, not whether we have to act or if humans are responsible for environmental degradation.
“As we head toward the next election and the future of conservatism debate continues, we will work to ensure environmental leadership remains at the core of the centre-right politics and to urge conservatives to set out a positive agenda for further environmental action.”