Tory attacks on green policies signal dark times ahead for the environment | Tony Juniper

The UK government has embarked on a disastrous environmental agenda, that has little to do with evidence and everything to do with ideology

The last few months mark the worst period for environmental policy that I have seen in my 30 years' work in this field. The attacks on renewable energy, the scrapping of zero carbon homes and the resumed use of pesticides that are known to kill birds and beneficial insects are among the policy reversals that confirm we are into a new and troubling period.

The basis for the lurch backwards has been predicated on managing public money and the cost of living, when if fact neither are backed by evidence. Take the fact that more than 40% of the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (Decc) budget is spent on nuclear waste management, and yet this technology, which will take years to make a material difference to our energy security, remains favoured by policy while renewable technologies that could deliver more quickly and cleanly are being undermined.