The Earth is facing a ‘code red’ – which is why we need a Green New Deal

Today marks 100 days of the new Labour government – a critical period for setting the tone for any new administration. In this time, Labour has already introduced a raft of bills aiming to address the country’s multiple crises: bringing rail into public ownership, cracking down on the CEOs of mega-polluting water companies, establishing a publicly owned energy company, and more besides.

But it has also faced criticism and confusion from a public hungry for real change. During these first few months, something has become clear: while the new government does represent a break from the last 14 years of Tory mismanagement, there is still so much that the government must implement to address the scale of the crises we’re facing. This is the time for big ideas and big vision. And that means having a serious conversation about the Green New Deal.

The world’s leading scientists tell us that humanity is facing a “code red”. That without “immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5C” – the critical threshold for avoiding the most catastrophic climate outcomes – “is beyond reach”. Across the world, the climate crisis is already here, destroying lives and livelihoods, displacing people from their homes, and threatening huge shocks to the global economy.

Even in the UK, we are already seeing the severe impact of climate change. 3,000 additional heat-related deaths were recorded in 2022’s extreme summer heatwave. And the climate crisis is wreaking havoc with international agricultural production, driving unaffordable supermarket price spikes for UK families.

This is a crisis of truly unprecedented proportions and it demands solutions on the same scale. We’re now halfway through a crucial decade for climate action and the truth is, the UK is dramatically off track to meet its own climate targets.

We can’t treat the climate crisis like any other political issue. Instead, we need to re-gear our whole economy towards tackling it – and do it in ways which make the economy fairer and life better and cheaper for ordinary people. That’s where the Green New Deal comes in. The Green New Deal is an ambitious plan for tackling the climate crisis and building a stronger, fairer economy in one fell swoop.

Following the devastation of the First World War, in the face of a looming global depression and the ecological crisis of the dust bowl in the US, President Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. This was a massive programme of public investment which built up American infrastructure, put millions to work and staved off economic collapse. After the Second World War, here in the UK the Labour government delivered a historic programme of mass public investment which put millions to work, took core industries into public ownership and founded our NHS.

In times of crisis, governments need to step up. Just think what we could do with comparable investment in the green economy today. We could create millions of well-paid jobs in the green industries of the future: in nature restoration, clean energy, decarbonising infrastructure, and public transport. Our green transition must be a just one, which leaves nobody behind and gives everyone a stake in the planet we are trying to protect. We need a Green Jobs Guarantee, providing iron-clad assurance to workers that they will not be left behind and ensuring secure, decent jobs for young people.

We must also go further than simply bringing in more fines for failing private water companies. While welcome, these do not solve the fundamental problem of private companies profiteering from public infrastructure they should never have controlled in the first place. If we’re going to ensure every penny of investment works for people and the planet, we must bring essential public utilities, like water and energy, back under public ownership and end the rip off – just like we’re doing with our railways.

I know Labour in power can meet this moment, but doing this will require historic ambition. This Labour government has the opportunity to be a transformative administration, studied in history classes for years to come. But only if it enacts a truly transformative economic programme that recognises the scale of change required and that politics-as-usual won’t deliver it.

If this government wants to succeed, avert climate disaster, and secure a strong, sustainable economic future for all communities, it must embrace and deliver a Green New Deal.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy is the member of parliament for Clapham and Brixton Hill