Are the Tories' green commitments all talk and little action?

Conservative environmental policies since 2010 have been characterised by confusion and mixed messages

• Scientists and climate advisers condemn Tory record
• How do the parties propose to tackle the climate crisis?

Just after calling the general election, Boris Johnson's government made two almost simultaneous policy announcements that encapsulated the longstanding contradictions of environmental policy over the past decade.

His decision to announce a moratorium on fracking - which, as the Labour party pointed out, was a temporary commitment rather than a ban - made headlines and was heralded as a signal of green intentions, but the go-ahead for a new deep coalmine in Cumbria was slipped out to little fanfare.