With polling day on July 4, the UK election campaign is entering the closing stages... and topics like the economy, immigration and the cost of living crisis continue to make most of the headlines.

‌Far less has been said about environmental policies. It follows pre-election backtracking from both Labour and the Conservatives on green commitments and what can realistically be delivered during challenging financial times.

‌Rishi Sunak arrived at December's COP28 climate summit in Dubai having just dropped a number of environmental policies – among them a ban on the sale of cars with combustion engines, now delayed from 2030 to 2035. The policy phasing out new gas boilers to heat people's homes was also watered down.

‌Experts say that green policies are losing out to other areas of concern… even if ultimately, they're interlinked.

"The most important policy area, and this has been the case for a very long time, is the economy," explains ‌Richard Power-Sayeed, a policy historian at King's College London. "Roughly half of voters at the moment are saying that that's going to be one of their top issues. 

"When people say the economy, often what they really mean is cost of living – how much does it cost for them to do their weekly shop, fill up the car with petrol, pay for their heating in the winter? And of course, all of these things are really connected to climate change. They're really connected to the cost of energy, but that's not necessarily how people see them."

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The Labour Party is the election favorite and has promised to set up Great British Energy - a publicly owned green energy company. But the party's multibillion-dollar annual pledge to fund environmental projects and the transition to a 'green economy' has been dropped for being too expensive. It means things like an ambitious plan to retrofit improved insulation in 19 million homes has been cut to just five million.

‌Environmental campaigners have criticized the move, as has the Green Party. Greens co-leader Carla Denyer believes her party is now the only option for potential voters who care about the environment – and when out meeting potential voters on their doorsteps, she's encouraging people to vote for change.

"We're clearly going to get a change of government… and so they have a straightforward choice from Labour to the Green Party," she says. 

"With Labour's slide to the right under Starmer and the u-turning on a number of different policies on climate, renters rights, workers rights and so on… an increasing number of voters are coming to the Greens for the first time because they are disappointed with what the Labour Party are offering and they are excited to vote for a party that's offering real change."

Labour says its climate policies are ambitious but also realistic, given current financial pressures. The Greens hope putting environmental policies at the heart of their offer will entice voters this election cycle. But as always, it's the voters who will decide.

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