Leeds can be a global green city, but we need smart investment and leadership - Katie White

Cities are competing to be green superpowers, not just because they care about climate change but because it’s smart business. Denmark's green economy generates billions, Germany now exports wind power globally, and in the US, the green economy employs 9.5 million.

While our neighbours are years, even decades, into creating the new green industries and jobs of the future, the UK has fallen short with weak political leadership and underinvestment.

There’s no time to be a fatalist about climate change, and I’m optimistic about the progress we can make. In my twenties, I took on MPs and climate sceptics to co-lead the campaign for what became the 2008 Climate Change Act and was lucky enough to prepare our country for global climate negotiations. Today, after running on a climate action ticket, I’m proud to be Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Leeds North West.

A British green industrial revolution is overdue. We need homegrown energy that ends the cost-of-living crisis for families. An energy system dependent on imported gas is not just bad for the climate, it’s an expensive energy security disaster. By being a world leader in energy technology, we can attract the new jobs and investment our country needs.

Innovation needs a home, and I’m more convinced than ever that Leeds and Yorkshire have the brains, energy, and willingness to be at the heart of the transition to a green economy.

Here in Leeds, we have enormous advantages. We have the expertise, with our universities publishing world-leading research. We have innovation, with the UK Infrastructure Bank, tasked with investing in projects that advance net zero goals, based here. Most importantly, we have the energy to do it. Whether it’s new multi-million-pound investment in climate-friendly housing or businesses like David Brown Cars, which shifted from manufacturing car gearboxes to creating gearboxes for wind turbines, Yorkshire entrepreneurialism is cut above the rest.

We can’t do it alone. We need serious political leadership, and that’s why I’m delighted to see Labour setting out its Green Prosperity Plan this week—a historic investment in homegrown energy that will cut bills, create good jobs, and tackle the climate crisis.

Labour’s plan will create a new publicly owned champion, Great British Energy, to give us real energy independence from foreign dictators. A new National Wealth Fund will invest in the jobs that can rebuild Britain’s industrial strength, and crowd in private investment in our ports, hydrogen, and protect our steel industry.

Labour's analysis suggests the plans will lead to more than 71,000 new jobs in Yorkshire alone. Investment doesn’t come for free, so Labour would also introduce a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants.

Leeds shouldn’t be a carbon copy of our Scandi neighbours. We must carve our own path, doing what we do best—world-leading research, backing our best business minds, and applying that Yorkshire entrepreneurial mindset. After years of neglect, we need to unlock the public and private investment to turbocharge a green economy.

Katie White OBE is the Labour candidate in Leeds North West.