When the Net Zero Champions met Caroline Lucas

Vicky Welstead, of Fugu, writes about how Britain’s first Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, joined Brighton Chamber’s Net Zero Champions to answer questions and hear how to support businesses helping decarbonise our economy.

First elected in 2010 and co-leader of the Green Party from 2016-18, Caroline Lucas has chaired All Party Parliamentary Groups on Climate Change and Limits to Growth and is now Deputy Chair of the APPG on Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

On 2 December, more than 50 Net Zero Champions – the Brighton Chamber members in business who are driving the journey to Net Zero – joined a Q&A, facilitated by Emma Mills-Sheffield from Mindsetup
Ltd, with Caroline Lucas, discussing how to accelerate progress.

Here’s a snapshot of the conversation:

What drew you to politics in the first place?

“The anti-nuclear movement got me into politics and reading Jonathan Porritt’s book Seeing Green put it into a political package for me. I marched down Clapham High Street to join the Green Party, or the Ecology Party as it was then, looking for a big building with a plaque on the wall, only to find a boxroom above a Chinese restaurant.”

How can we persuade the Government to have a proper windfall tax?

“Even BP’s chief finance officer says BP has more money than it knows what to do with, yet our windfall tax has a massive loophole. If a company says they’ll reinvest profits into oil and gas extraction, they hardly pay anything. So, despite the Glasgow COP agreeing to stop incentivising fossil fuels, the Government has introduced this new perverse incentive.

“We need to shame the Government at every step. Telling everyone how they’re giving billions to oil and gas companies. It’s bonkers.” 

How can cities do more to achieve Net Zero?

“Much of what cities can do depends on what’s allowed nationally – there’s fantastic work going on. But if we have more devolution, so much more could be done. We’ve listened to Andy Burnham on what he’s achieved with trams and more affordable electric buses, but that’s only because he’s been given powers to take back control. Local authorities should have the powers to be able to make the changes we need.

“If I look to Europe, I can see exciting projects to achieve Net Zero, not because they’re any more creative or committed, but because they’ve got a facilitating national framework that allows that leg up. We’re never going to level up from Westminster – we need local control.”

If we’re going to hit 1.5, how can Brighton be part of the solution, not the problem?

“By accelerating things we’re already doing. I think we’re one of the few local authorities with a circular economy officer. But we need more finance and a better national framework. One of the frustrations is we all know what to do, and the technology exists to do it. On waste, energy, food, transport. What’s lacking is a joined-up way of facilitating it.

“Much comes down to what’s allowed in terms of rules and contracts. If you sign up to a stupid PFI contract, it’s not surprising the terms of that contract 20 years on are not what you need now.”

What can micro businesses do to reduce their impact?

“The first step I’d take is reviewing where your electricity comes from. If it’s from a company with no green credentials, then switch. Or, look at where your pensions fund is going and who you’re banking with. Small businesses are struggling and it’s a difficult time for big environmental investments, but some of those things would have a big impact without much cost.”

After the Q&A the event opened into a general discussion on the challenges facing those working to build a greener economy and what can be done to remove barriers.

Harriet Dean-Orange, founder of Harriets of Hove, said: “In the last few months five zero waste shops have shut across the city. Brighton & Hove used to be known for refilling. Now there’s only a couple of us left and we’re struggling.

“We’re in unfit properties, hemorrhaging money. I feel like I’m the only one in Hove struggling to lower people’s waste. Can we stop obsessing about recycling and do more about the circular economy? What we need to do is stop creating waste in the first place. If we want other local businesses to become carbon neutral, we need to showcase the ones doing it already.”

Luke Bray, Partner at Axiom Architects, said: “Since joining the Chamber a year ago much of our efforts to improve our circularity has been about connecting with other businesses. It’s about finding those connections where one person’s waste is another person’s produce. We need to make these circles smaller and more local.”

Find out more about Brighton Chamber, plus an unabridged version of this writeup on the Chamber website: brightonchamber.co.uk

Thank you to Vicky Welstead from Fugu for writing up the key discussion points from this event. Thanks also to Emma Mills-Sheffield for facilitating, to Caroline Lucas for joining us, and to Platf9rm for hosting.