The Environment: Where Each Party Stands

The environment and its protection is not an issue that belongs to either Nationlaism or Unionism. It is an issue that goes beyond the constitutional question of NI. Due to this, the team at Beyond NI thought it would be a good idea to tackle the question on what do the main parties believe and think when it comes to the environment?

The DUP:

The DUP’s latest manifesto had little to no say on environmental matters and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to many. The failings over the RHI scandal has left the DUP in the peculiar position of having to be extremely critical of all future environmental schemes and hence forth environmental projects in general. While the party may have held some pro environmental protectionist views in the past this has now been seriously undermined by their handling over RHI. The DUP has also had some questionable soundbites on the environment with MP Sammy Wilson stating in past comments “I still think man made climate change is a con” (Wilson 2008). The DUP thus is not the party for pro environmental matters with RHI showing their lack of understanding on how to develop/deliver policy of this nature. 

The UUP:

The UUP have a more developed and ambitious set of climate change policy ideas compared to their unionist rivals. The UUP has advocated for the UK to reach Carbon neutrality by 2035. It has also advocated for mass planting over 1 million new trees throughout the UK and welcomes the ban on sales of future petroleum and diesel cars by 2035. The party has also been widely outspoken on achieving more electrical charging points throughout NI to ensure that the cross over to electric cars for the public is more seamless. 

Alliance: 

The Alliance party is widely regarded as a party that holds the environment in high regard, championing that the UK should reach carbon neutrality by 2030. Alliance is also keen to state that they want to see the environment at the heart of the government's decision making process. The party also wants to see the strengthening of the all island energy system in order to ensure a more stable energy market for Northern Ireland. Along with this, they advocated for a green energy style tax in a similar style to the current EU system where polluters pay based on how much they pollute. The party is also keen to advocate for the planting of 60 million trees across the UK. 

The SDLP: 

The SDLP when it comes to the environment advocated for Northern Ireland to have its own climate change act in line with the rest of the UK and Ireland. However, it is particularly interesting that the party has a strong position on anti fracking. The party strongly opposes fracking in Northern Ireland and wishes to see it stop henceforth. The party also wishes to see the creation of an independent environmental agency within Northern Ireland, when Stormont wasn’t sitting (2017-2019) civil servants denied the creation of such an agency.

Sinn Fein: 

Sinn Fein are comfortably a pro environmental party. The party advocates for climate justice as an essential measure to tackle corporate greed while also protecting the interests of the working class. The party, along with the SDLP, want to see a ban on fracking across all of the island and wish to see the state (ROI) back out of any investments in fossil fuels. Sinn Fein are also keen to state that they do not want to see a carbon tax due to their belief that it will make people poorer and that the island is not ready for a complete transformation in private or public transport both North and South. 

Green Party: 

As one would initially think, the Green Party are extremely pro environment and support the protection of the environment. The party takes their support to the Nth degree for the protection of the environment, while they actively support all the pro environment points as listed above by other parties within stormont. They also offer more advanced policies like their belief that everybody within NI should be within a five minute walk of an open green space. The party is also extremely keen to see current EU directives for the environment transferred over in a post brexit transition to Northern Ireland. Additionally, they want to see an end to “Monster” meat farms within NI due to the party stating that these farms are polluting water sources by exceeding their ammonium pollution threshold. Another interesting facet of the Green Party manifesto is their desire to see all new houses within NI be installed with solar panels. Another very radical idea the party holds is their view that large energy companies should be split up to ensure that they cannot produce for themselves and their consumers. Our reading of this point is that the greens solely want to see the state be the sole operators of energy to ensure that it is a not-for-profit enterprise. This is later reinforced by the Greens stating that they want “to ensure that energy tariffs are progressive, so that small scale users pay less and large energy users pay more per unit consumed. 

TUV: 

The TUV has no environmental policies in its manifesto. This lack of information would suggest the party has zero to little interest in environmental matters.

People before profit:

The aims of the only outright socialist party in the NI assembly is very much kinder to the protection of the environment. PBP wishes to see a carbon neutral economy by 2035, similar to others within the NI assembly. The party also has policies stating that they oppose nuclear power, fracking and shale gas. Arguably the most radical and socialist policy PBP have regarding the environment is to nationalise all natural resources on the island of Ireland. This would effectively take out any private interest when it comes to managing natural resources.