Jeremy Corbyn

We’ve supported Jeremy Corbyn as a real politician – not a criminal – who cares about the earth and human values. But there might just be a problem…

In his manifesto, “Protecting our Planet”, Jeremy says he will prioritise our planet.

Some excerpts:

– Britain providing international leadership on climate change and the socialisation of our energy supply leading to an end of the era of fossil fuels
– Putting people and planet first – tackling the cost of living and climate crisis together
– Cleaner air – tackling the air pollution crisis in our big cities and committing to full independent public enquiry into levels of air pollution
– A healthy, safe, environment where people and nature thrive together

Jeremy agrees that without urgent action to get off fossil fuels a 4 degree rise in temperature by the end of the century is inevitable. He agrees that 80% of fossil fuels must remain in the ground. He would: end dirty energy handouts, ban fracking and set a target date to end new fossil fuel extraction and begin to phase out high polluting coal power stations with support for workers to retrain. Jeremy also opposes new nuclear power development. Indeed, he assures us, “Britain has the largest renewable energy potential in Europe. Using just one-third of our off-shore wind, wave and tidal energy potential would make Britain a net exporter of electricity.”

While we agree with so many of his policies, Jeremy seems to have forgotten that coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels!

When asked whether producing more coal would mean reopening Northern pits, he said: “Where you can re-open pits – yes – and where you can do clean burn coal technology, yes.

“I think we can develop coal technology. Let’s do so because energy prices around the world are going up. Open cast mining is not acceptable, deep mined coal is possible and is an alternative.”

He continues: “The last deep coal mines in South Wales have gone but it’s quite possible that in future years coal prices will start to go up again around the world. And maybe there will be a case for what is actually very high quality coal, particularly in South Wales, being mined again.

“But if there’s to be substantial coal fire generation it’s got to be clean burn technology, it’s got to have carbon filters on it, it’s got to be carbon neutral. I’ve looked at it, I’ve discussed it. It’s complicated. At one level it looks very expensive. But the advantages also look quite attractive.”

So, what’s happened to leaving 80% of fossil fuels in the ground? What about phasing out coal fired power stations? And what’s all this about “clean burn technology” (we can also call it carbon capture)? Just why is he doing this?

Experience in the US shows carbon capture still is unproven; it isn’t yet working. It is costing such a fortune that even the company building it doubts its worth ($5 billion and rising).  Even worse, the CO2 that is diverted would be used for “enhanced oil recovery” – we all know what that means!  Surely this isn’t what we’re looking for. The US company (Kemper) is now licensing this  technology worldwide…Beware of TTIP.

So, where do we go from here? If Jeremy wins the Labour leadership we’ll have some questions to ask…