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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Fiona Harvey Environment editor

From water to wood-burning stoves: 11 green challenges Labour must solve

A low and brown-looking river flowing underneath two bridges, with office buildings or blocks of flats in the background
The River Irwell dividing Manchester and Salford, which has been named as one of the most polluted waterways in the country. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

The new Labour government faces a massive task in seeking to repair the UK’s degraded environment and fight the climate crisis. After 14 years in which the Conservative government ducked many of the big decisions, deliberately underfunded regulators, picked culture wars rather than formulated policy, and set out target after target without putting in place the measures needed to meet them, the UK is in a poor state on nearly all green fronts.

Here are the top green issues that Keir Starmer, as well as the energy security and net zero secretary, Ed Miliband, and the environment, food and rural affairs secretary, Steve Reed, will have in their in-trays.

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