Climate agenda and politics

Sir, – Sadhbh O’Neill argues that any drift toward the right in the forthcoming European elections could be disastrous for Europe’s climate agenda (Environment, Opinion, May 7th).

Here’s an idea – maybe people on the right simply have a different idea of how the green transition should be achieved. One which doesn’t include endless tax hikes and myriad environmental regulations, but rather one which focuses on technological solutions and green transition subsidies, as is the case in the US with its Inflation Reduction Act.

The wider issue here is that there has been practically no debate at a basic level with voters about what type of transition they want. Parties on the left seem to think they have a monopoly on what the green transition should look like. For example, we never hear a proper debate about whether our energy transition should include a nuclear energy component. Parties on the left simply rule it out ex-ante.

The great thing about democracy is that it allows the little people to occasionally have a say. It’s about time that people on the extreme end of the environmental movement started to listen more and preach less.