UK spending far more on polluting policies than green ones, says WWF

Just 145m of budget went on environment with 40bn spent on emissions-increasing measures, says charity

The UK government is spending many times more on measures that will increase greenhouse gas emissions than on policies to tackle the climate crisis, according to an analysis of the spring budget.

Only 145m in the March 2021 budget was devoted to environmental spending, most of it on the post-Brexit emissions trading scheme for industry, according to an analysis by the conservation charity WWF. But the cost of tax breaks to companies to encourage investment came to more than 34bn, while maintaining the fuel duty freeze - for an 11th consecutive year - is costing about 4.5bn in lost revenues.