What Could a DUP Coalition Mean for the Environment?

With this month’s election ending in a hung parliament, the most likely outcome for the future of the British government appears to be a coalition between the incumbent Conservative party (albeit with a minority) and the Northern Irish ruling outfit the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Until the election result, relatively little was known about the DUP outside of their native nation, but they have emerged as unlikely power brokers in the struggle for 10 Downing Street. Much has been made of their stance on abortion, LGBT rights and Brexit, but what do the Unionists believe with regards to the environment?

Silence may be golden…

… but it’s certainly not green, at least, not when it comes to the DUP’s manifesto. In the entirety of their 13-page manifesto, the DUP neglect to make a single mention of climate change, global warming or even use the word “environment”.

On the other hand, it does claim that Northern Ireland needs to bring down energy bills, urging companies to make energy cheaper for consumers, and calls for strengthened bonds between the nation and its neighbouring Republic of Ireland. It also vaguely mentions pursuing renewable energy, though does not go into further detail as to what this might entail.

However, some of its party members seem to be singing from a different hymn sheet. Several of them are outspoken climate change sceptics, including former environment minister Sammy Wilson. Wilson appears to have very little interest in exploring sustainability in mining or energy generation, instead lauding Theresa May’s plans to buy off homeowners near fracking sites.

“The UK needs to fully exploit the natural resources available to it,” said Wilson last year, claiming that May’s support of fracking would “take it to the green Luddites”.

Lack of legislation

Perhaps most concerning of all, the DUP recently ruled out implementing any legislation regarding Northern Irish plans to tackle climate change. As things stand, the nation is the only part of the UK which has not pledged to meet specific targets in order to reduce its carbon footprint, and current environment minister Michelle McIlveen said that she was content with the UK-wide strategy as sufficient for Northern Irish needs.

However, the facts don’t support McIlveen’s comments. Emissions monitoring data shows that Northern Ireland emits a disproportionate amount of carbon for its size in relation to the rest of the UK, while emissions have only fallen by 16% from 1990 (compared with 30% in the UK as a whole).

Indeed, the aforementioned Wilson was quick to praise President Donald Trump’s decision to back out of the Paris Agreement, calling it a “very wise” move and branding the Agreement “totally flawed and pointless.” There has been no little amount of debate over whether the Agreement should be counted as an environmental success or mere diplomatic bluster, but Wilson was unequivocal in his condemnation of it.

“The Paris Agreement itself is a delusion,” he writes on his own personal website. “So pulling out of the agreement, which was only a piece of window dressing for climate chancers who wished to pretend that they were doing something about an issue which they can’t affect anyhow, is not the disaster which the green lefties are getting hysterical about.”