Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer, have both confirmed their commitment to the UK’s legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but have given little indication of the how it would meet the objectives. Adrian Ramsay, the co-leader of the Green party, warned that the UK was already “living beyond its means” on the environment, consuming far more resources than the planet could support, damaging nature beyond its means. from its ability to recover and by emitting far more carbon dioxide than could be absorbed by trees, seas and soils. Policy statements from the two leadership candidates so far have focused on the economy and issues such as immigration, but Ramsay said the pursuit of economic growth at all costs was not possible without destroying Earth’s life support systems. Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsey said the UK was already “living beyond its means” environmentally. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images He warned: “Just last week, the UK saw its hottest temperatures on record and the consequences of climate disruption became clear for all to see. As fires raged and people lost everything as their homes burned to the ground, the two candidates to be our next prime minister were talking more about economic growth than tackling the climate crisis.” Ramsay called for a shift away from standard economic measures such as GDP, which reward excessive use of resources and do not take into account factors such as people’s well-being and happiness. Ramsay said: “Unfortunately, successive governments have for too long focused on economic growth at all costs, failing to recognize that it is the quality of our economy that matters, not just the quantity. A narrow focus solely on economic growth will exacerbate the climate crisis and exacerbate social inequalities.” Many economists are dissatisfied with GDP as the sole benchmark of economic success and have called for a broader set of measures that take into account the well-being of people and the impact of human activities on the planet. Ramsay said making changes to how the UK measures success would benefit everyone. “This requires a shift away from chasing economic growth alone and instead measuring the success of our economy by how it maximizes people’s happiness without overstepping planetary boundaries. It also means policies to tackle the scourge of inequality and ensure we share the Earth’s resources fairly,” he said. He also pointed to estimates of the Earth’s “overshoot day,” the date when humanity has used up all the biological resources the planet can regenerate within a year. This year, it falls on a Thursday. All resources used beyond this point are beyond what the Earth can physically support, and all carbon dioxide emitted from this point is not absorbed but is released into the atmosphere to maintain its warming. planet for up to a century. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Ramsay said: “On Transcend Earth Day, I am calling on the Conservative leadership candidates to pledge to broaden their focus on economic growth and show how they will ensure that the UK lives within our planetary means within the next 10 years . “Our government should be working across the board to ensure that we lead the way in pushing Earth’s overshoot further each year.” Earth Overpass Day has generally been earlier each year – in 2010 it fell on August 21. However, it was briefly moved back three weeks in 2020 during the Covid restrictions, from late July to late August.
