Jokers to the right?

Conservatives:

Philosophy:

"This is a Conservative vision for our future, and it is based on Conservative values. We believe that it is our responsibility to create a clean and healthy environment to pass on to our children. That is why we have put green issues back at the heart of our politics and that is why they will be at the heart of our government.

"Instead of using rules and regulations to impose a centralised worldview, we will go with the grain of human nature, creating new incentives and market signals which reward people for doing the right thing. Instead of pulling bureaucratic levers from above telling people what they can't do, we will provide people with the information they need to make more responsible choices. Instead of holding businesses back by imposing unfair retrospective stealth taxes, we will unleash the power of green enterprise and promote resource efficiency to generate thousands of green jobs. This is how we will live up to our responsibility to be the greenest government in our history."

Politics:

The Conservative manifesto returns Labour's criticism that it is only focused on green rhetoric, accusing the previous government of "stark" failures in its attempts to tackle climate change.

It highlights the UK's poor performance in Europe's renewable energy league table and the fact that it has taken a recession to deliver deep cuts in carbon emissions.

It also argues that "a succession of eleven energy Ministers and eight Secretaries of State with responsibility for energy has left our policy muddled and put our energy security at risk".

Finally, the Conservatives attempt to draw some dividing lines of their own by committing to blocking the proposed expansion of Heathrow and making a pledge to raise green taxes as a proportion of overall Treasury revenue.

Despite the ideological commitment to incentives and individual responsibility there are also a sizable number of policy proposals that would require government intervention to drive low co2

Policies:

• Support existing targets for renewable energy and emission reduction, and sign central government up to 10:10 campaign.
• Increase the proportion of tax revenue accounted for by environmental taxes, while ensuring that any additional revenue from new green taxes are used to reduce the burden of tax elsewhere.
• Introduce an Emissions Performance Standard to limit the levels of greenhouse gases from power stations, potentially banning unabated coal plants.
• Support roll out of new nuclear plants – provided they receive no public
  subsidy.
• Create four carbon capture and storage demonstration projects.
• Deliver an offshore electricity grid to support offshore wind farms and create at least two dedicated Marine Energy Parks.
• Launch a green infrastructure bank and green saving scheme
• Give local authorities the power to establish new district heating networks which use biogas and other low carbon fuels;
• Allow communities that host renewable energy projects like wind farms to keep the additional business rates they generate for six years.
• Block proposed third runway at Heathrow and build new high speed rail link from the airport to London and the Midlands.
• Reform Air Passenger Duty to better incentivise operators to run fuller planes.
• Launch "Green Deal" scheme, offering every home up to £6,500 worth of energy efficiency measures that will be paid back through energy bills with savings
• Improve energy efficiency of appliances by adopting scheme similar to Japan's "top runner" initiative, which bans the least efficient devices.
• Retain Energy Performance Certificates to help people improve the environmental rating of their property.
• Ensure labelling of GM foods and block any commercial planting of GM crops until and unless it has been assessed as safe for people and the environment.
• Support reform of Common Agricultural Policy
• Introduce a voluntary Responsibility Deal with producers of waste urging them to cut back on waste levels, and roll out incentive schemes to encourage this to happen.
• Ditch pay as you throw proposals, but put a floor under the standard rate of
  landfill tax until 2020 to encourage alternative forms of waste disposal.
• Work internationally for strong and binding climate change agreement.