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HOGWASH, greenwash or whitewash? With just a week to go before the UK general election on 7 May, the main parties stand accused of offering bold claims about combating climate change and boosting clean technologies, but making few specific promises.

The criticisms come from economists, who have scrutinised the environmental promises of the main parties. “Much of the discussion is largely rhetoric, with limited focus on actionable policy commitments,” says .

For example, although Labour has pledged to make the UK a world leader in clean technology, creating 1 million jobs in the process, it has failed to say how much it will invest to that end, says of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. “No one says that they will double or triple the R&D budget for clean technology,” Martin adds. “It’s all very unspecific promises.”

He also worries that once the economy bounces back, we might see carbon emissions creep up.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Election hogwash”