The Labour Party’s annual conference committed to implementing a Green New Deal (GND), the aim of which is to decarbonise the UK economy by 2030. The idea for a GND first emerged in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, when a group of economists and policymakers – including the MP Caroline Lucas, the economist Ann Pettifor and the Guardian’s economics editor Larry Elliott – advocated a decarbonising stimulus programme in response to the financial crash.
A decade of austerity under the Conservative Party meant that a UK GND failed to materialise. But the idea became a central demand of progressives in the US, such as the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
