Pledging Is Not the Same As Doing?

The UK government makes lots of pledges in attempts to burnish its green credentials. The World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) maintain, however, it spends much more on measures that increase 'greenhouse gases', than on policies designed to tackle the climate crisis (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/12/uk-spending-far-more-on-polluting-policies-than-green-ones-wwf). The WWF looked at the March 2021 budget. They found that only £145m could be described as 'environmental spending'. Most of this, was spent on post-Brexit emissions trading for industry. Emissions trading is hardly an urgent priority and does little to wean industry from 'greenhouse gas' production. The costs of tax breaks for companies came to more than £34bn. Predictably, the UK Treasury reject the analysis. A spokesperson stated that it "failed to recognise the £12bn we already pledged to spend in support of our 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution". Pledges 'butter no parsnips', as they say. They certainly don't qualify as action! Fuel duty was frozen for the 11th consecutive year. This goes down well with drivers of petrol and diesel cars. The freeze loses, however, £4.5bn in annual revenues. Those revenues could be directed, for example, to making UK homes more energy efficient. They could also be used to help poorer folk transition to electric vehicles. The increased fuel costs themselves might also act as a further incentive for drivers to move away from using petrol and diesel.