It’s been a long journey on environmental issues for the Tories – but somehow it feels as if it has been in the wrong direction. Eighteen years on from David Cameron’s “hug a husky” campaign of 2006, where the climate and nature crises were largely viewed with cross-party consensus, we look back through the (many) Tory manifestos since 2010 to see how the Conservatives’ environmental message has evolved.
Climate
In 2010 David Cameron made the climate emergency a key part of his pitch to the country, promising that ministers would make an annual energy statement to parliament, and reform of energy regulator Ofgem to focus on security and low-carbon energy. He also vowed to stick to international reduction pledges for greenhouse gases, and Labour’s at the time domestic target of 80% by 2050.
The Conservatives continued to take the climate emergency seriously in the years that followed. In the 2015 manifesto, the party promised to “push for a strong global climate deal later this year … that keeps [2C] … firmly in reach”.
Theresa May, who would later sign net zero into law, was keen to make it a large part of her offering, too, promising that the country would continue to be a world leader on climate change. And in 2019, Boris Johnson specifically termed it a “climate emergency” and said leadership from the UK was needed.
But now, in this year’s manifesto, there is no mention of the scale of the challenge ahead except that the Conservatives are still committed to meeting net zero by 2050.
Rishi Sunak promised to keep international climate funding commitments and said the transition to net zero has to be “pragmatic”, which has been interpreted by many as a signal to slow down drastically.
Energy
Cameron’s 2010 manifesto made some positive commitments on cleaning up the energy sector, pledging to encourage new renewable energy and to clean up coal, backed by an emissions performance standard on power stations. It also promised a £6,500-loan per household for green energy measures, to be paid back through savings on bills over 25 years.
But by 2015 the Conservatives supported fracking, and promised to halt the spread of onshore windfarms. (They did also commit, however, to ending the use of coal for power generation.)
May continued to back fracking in 2017 and said there was no need for large-scale onshore wind but also promised to keep the UK as a world leader in offshore, and to improve energy efficiency in people’s homes as well as offering smart meters to every household and business by the end of 2020. Johnson was bolder in 2019; putting forward a moratorium on fracking and promising new floating windfarms.
But in 2024 Sunak, once again, seems to have gone backwards, committing to restricting ground-mounted solar panels from farmland and guaranteeing no new green levies or charges to fund renewables. This could lead to the cancellation of new nuclear and renewable projects in the pipeline.
He pledged new oil and gas licensing rounds and new gas power stations. The Conservatives also said this year they would build small modular nuclear reactors and carbon capture and storage plants.
Green economy
Cameron’s 2010 manifesto fizzed with excitement about “unleashing the power of green enterprise” and promised to make the UK “the world’s first low-carbon economy”, including becoming a world leader in green goods and services, while in 2015 he claimed the Conservatives had been the “greenest government ever”. This last claim was greeted with some scepticism.
But the green economy was also a significant part of May’s 2017 bid for power, and Johnson used the green economy as a stick to beat Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn with in 2019, writing: “We believe that free markets, innovation and prosperity can protect the planet … in the next decade, we will work with the market to deliver two million new high quality jobs in clean growth.”
Sunak’s manifesto makes little mention of the green economy except in a pledge to become a net electricity exporter, a proportion of which would be generated by gas, and a carbon markets mechanism to stop green industry here being displaced by more polluting industry abroad.
Transport
The Tories have zigzagged back and forth on the two biggest flagship transport decisions: the expansion of Heathrow and the construction of HS2.
On a more micro level, however, cycling and active transport has been a positive part of many past Tory manifestos, including May’s where she pledged new cycle networks and updated cycle facilities across the country.
Cameron and Johnson were keen on electric vehicles too, with Cameron saying: “Our aim is for almost every car and van to be a zero emission vehicle by 2050.”
Johnson went a step further in 2019, promising to consult on a full petrol and diesel vehicle phase-out. He pledged electric vehicle infrastructure including a national plug-in network and gigafactory.
But Sunak, again, does not share their enthusiasm. His manifesto makes no mention of helping people to buy and use electric vehicles. Instead he promises freezes on fuel duty, a “plan for drivers” and to criminalise dangerous cyclists, after last year delaying the phaseout of petrol and diesel cars.
Nature
The Conservatives often claim to lead on nature and in 2010 pledged a white paper on protecting the natural environment that would introduce “conservation credits”, and extend protected areas.
Cameron built on this in 2015, promising a new “blue belt” to protect the seas from industrial fishing and help fish and other marine life, and pledged to plant 11m trees.
The Conservatives also promised to work on the international stage to stop the poaching of animals such as polar bears. May continued in this vein in 2017, and promised to continue work to conserve the marine environment off the coast of the UK and “to prevent catastrophic environmental degradation” globally.
Johnson made some bold promises in 2019, including a £640m new Nature for Climate fund. He said the country would reach 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of new trees a year by the end of the next parliament, as well as restoring peatland, and declared he expected all new streets to be lined with trees.
Sunak’s 2024 offering is thinner gruel; he pledged to implement a rule on forest risk commodities where the import of goods from areas under illegal deforestation is banned, and promised to designate the 11th national park, and use water company fines to clean up the country’s rivers, as well as vowing to cut red tape to help people plant more trees.
