A clean energy alliance would allow countries to work together to source components more cheaply, boost the expansion of wind, solar and other forms of low-carbon energy, and potentially share or export electricity on connected grids. Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Costa Rica and Kenya are potential partners, and Miliband will receive further support at the Cop27 UN climate summit, which he is visiting for several days. Labor is committed to 100% low carbon electricity by 2030. “This potential clean energy alliance is like an anti-OPEC,” Miliband said, referring to the group of oil-producing countries. “I say against OPEC because OPEC is a cartel, a group of countries working together to keep prices high. That would be a way for countries to come together to be at the forefront and say, “We’re going to offer clean energy and it’s going to help lower prices, not just for us but for others.” He said the plunge in the price of renewable energy over the past decade was “the biggest source of optimism we should all have” about the climate crisis. “It is now cheaper to save the planet than to destroy it,” Miliband told the Guardian at Cop27. “This is a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, because the implications of this message are profound.” Labor leader Keir Starmer has pledged to lift the current ban on onshore wind farms, which offer the cheapest form of renewable energy. Changes to the planning system under David Cameron have effectively prevented new onshore wind farms from being built in the UK since 2015. Labor will also stop granting new North Sea oil and gas licences. The Conservative government plans to grant more than 100 such development and exploration licences. Miliband did not commit to revoking any licenses granted, but pointed out that companies with exploration licenses needed further licenses to develop fields, which Labor would not grant. It also wants three new nuclear power stations, in line with the advice of the Commission on Climate Change. Energy production from biomass – burning trees – should be “carefully considered”, he promised, to ensure it is environmentally sustainable and economically viable. Miliband, who joined the Constabulary as secretary of state for energy and climate change from 2008 to 2010, accused the government of behaving like “climate chameleons”. He pointed out that since hosting the famous Cop26 climate conference, where nations agreed to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the government has returned – briefly – to fracking, launched a new coal mine, granted new oil and gas permits, fossil fuel tax breaks, kept the onshore wind ban, cut aid to poor countries, failed on insulation and then snubbed Cop27, until Rishi Sunak , the prime minister, turned around and came for a day. Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister who chaired Cop26, had done “an important and credible job”, Miliband said. “I’m an admirer of Sharma but he has been undermined by a government that tells people ‘do as we say not as we do’. And that’s a big problem.” As a result, the UK had lost its place on the international stage, he added. “The problem is that the government has made promises and then broken them, and that’s not a good basis for trust.” Mr Sunak’s initial decision to snub the Cop27 summit and prevent King Charles from attending was “extraordinary” and “shameful”, Miliband said. “You don’t have to be a climate nerd to know that Cop26 was a big deal and we hosted Cop26, and therefore Cop27, where we handed over the presidency, is also a big deal,” he said. “And if [more than] 90 world leaders are going, you know you should probably be there.” He said Sunak “just doesn’t understand this agenda. He doesn’t understand that he is the future, that this is the future of our economy… He is on the sidelines. He sent a message internationally – unfortunately – and domestically, with that initial decision, which is “This is none of my business”. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Starmer had shown that Labor would lead on climate and green jobs as central to the party’s vision for the future, he added. As well as targeting 100% renewable energy by 2030, the party will create a national public energy company, GB Energy, and an investment fund to invest in green technology and green jobs. “It’s at the heart of our agenda because it’s the future of jobs, the future of the economy, lower bills, energy security and it’s the biggest issue we face as a country and as a world,” Miliband said. Voices within the Tory party have raised doubts about net zero, he noted. “That means you’re saying, we want to continue with more, dirty, expensive fossil fuels for our energy system, not greener cheaper renewable energy,” he said. “This is not a winning position. Anti-net zero is a very invincible position.” For the “vast majority of people”, the climate was an “important issue”, he said. “What they want to know is can this be done in a way that makes economic sense for us, particularly when people are facing a cost-of-living crisis, and the overwhelming answer is yes,” he said. Labour’s clean energy plan by 2030 will cut bills by £93 billion, according to the party’s analysis, through measures that include energy efficiency and home insulation schemes, boosting renewables including more wind farms onshore and a windfall tax on excess oil and gas profits. producers. Miliband said the push for clean energy would also improve people’s health and quality of life. “We are a country beset by dire fuel poverty and killer air pollution and a deep desire for big economic change,” he said. “As [US president Joe] Biden has shown that being a climate leader is an answer to all of this.”
