Responding to the news that Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has outlined his party’s plans for a publicly owned energy company if elected to power, Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said:

“Labour’s pledge to develop the UK’s enormous home-grown renewable energy potential is great news that will help to power the transition to a green economy that we so urgently need.

“But the party mustn’t rest on its laurels just because it has one strong green policy. We’re yet to hear how it intends to tackle the enormous carbon pollution created by transport and heating our homes, for example, which can be addressed by rolling out a nationwide programme of insulation, funding the switch to heat pumps, and delivering a true public transport renaissance.

“Championing the switch to green electricity is all well and good, but it’s not nearly enough in isolation. Labour, and indeed all parties, must strengthen their green commitments – not solely because our collective future demands it, but to build a better Britain on the whole, where our bills are lower, economy is stronger, and jobs in emerging clean industries are plentiful and secure.”