Labour is poised to commit itself to one of the most radical net zero emissions targets in Europe after members voted to agree to a target of 2030.

Party members voted on Tuesday at the autumn conference in Brighton to back a motion by the campaign group Labour for a Green New Deal to set a fixed date to achieve net zero, as well as nationalising the big six energy firms and guarantee green jobs.

The hope is that Labour will adopt it as official party policy and add the Green New Deal proposal to its next manifesto. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow secretary for business, energy and industrial strategy, is one of the most senior party figures backing the 2030 target.

The Green party has advocated 2030 for a number of years but Labour activists say their motion is broader in scope and contains the most radical collection of environmental policies ever passed by Labour members.

After delegates passed the motion, Labour officially backed the Green New Deal proposition. Anti-climate change activists have said it is the most radical set of left-wing policies to be passed by party members in a generation.

As well as working with scientists and trade unions to work towards net zero carbon emissions by 2030, the Green New Deal also proposes repealing all anti-union laws, banning fracking - which is already Labour policy - decarbonisation by progressive taxation of the wealthiest in society, taking all public transport into public ownership so it is free or affordable.

Their specific transport plans include rail electrification, supporting high speed rail, creating rail freight on the West Coast Mainline, removing HGVs from the roads.

They also want to retrofit zero-carbon measures on social and council housing and public buildings.

“Climate refugees” would be welcomed to the UK while measures would be taken against displacing people from their homes.

It also suggests working collaboratively with farmers to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector.

“Labour now has the most ambitious net zero plans in the world. Conference agreed that these should be achieved through massive investment in infrastructure and skills, public ownership of key utilities and supporting climate transition in the global south,” said a Labour Party spokesman.

“Labour’s plans for a Green New Deal will bring about a green industrial revolution which is bold, credible and has climate justice at its heart.”

Lauren Townsend, a trade unionist and spokesperson for Labour for a Green New Deal, said: “The Labour movement has voted to take leadership on the climate emergency with a response which puts people and planet before profit.

“Now the ambition has been set, it is time for our movement to come together to build a Green New Deal from the ground up in every town, village and city.”

There was concern before delegates headed to Brighton that the motion would be voted down by certain trade unions and that a rival motion by GMB that did not tie the party to a specific date would be more popular.

However, Unite, Unison, and other unions all swung behind the Green New Deal plan and it passed by a significant majority of delegate votes.

A 2030 target puts Labour on a par with the Greens but well ahead of the Conservative party, which is aiming for net zero by 2050, and the Liberal Democrats, who aim for 2045.

Norway has an emissions-neutral target of 2030 but only if other countries sign up to a decarbonising agenda. If there are no international cuts to emissions, then its date remains 2050.

Laura Parker, a Momentum spokesperson, said: “We’re delighted that Momentum backed the Green New Deal and it has been endorsed by Labour. Our party has united around a bold, socialist Green New Deal that will create tens of thousands of good, green jobs across the country, usher in a new era of public luxury for all and welcome climate refugees who have been forced from their homes.

“In the face of a monumental crisis we must be bold and ambitious. We are the last generation who can stop climate breakdown and build a society that works for the many. And now Labour has a plan to do just that.”

John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “Net zero by 2030 will be extremely difficult, but it may the right date to aim for. If it can be done, it should be, and if it can’t, then missing the target by a few years, or even a decade, is still a far better outcome than hitting the government’s 2050 target, which is dangerously late.”



The campaign group has said that decarbonisation could produce thousands of well-paid, skilled jobs in the renewables sector and the supply chain. To allay union fears that ambitious targets would threaten jobs in the traditional energy industries and the aviation sector, Greenpeace said there would be a “just transition” that protects workers.



Amelia Womack, the deputy leader of the Green party, said: “Labour’s Green New Deal is a welcome step towards a vision for the future that Greens have been campaigning for for the last thirty years.

“It however fails to address key areas where the Labour party and Labour councils have been consistently failing. The Labour party must make clear commitments to end airport expansion, stop needless road building programmes and to secure root and branch reform of a broken banking and financial sector that has enabled the climate emergency.”