All sorts of things about the Pre-Budget Report are to be wholeheartedly welcomed – not least the Labour Party’s re-discovery of the moral case for redistribution – or ‘fairness’, as they choose to describe it. Hang on in there a little bit longer, and they’ll soon re-discover the concept of social justice.

More broadly, there’s no doubt that a stimulus pack of one kind or another has to be welcome. The Government’s continuing boldness here is admirable. And there are a few good dollops of cash in the package. Much of it recycled or brought forward, for instance, spending of around £500 million on insulating homes and energy efficiency initiatives, and another £800 million brought forward on big capital projects such as Building Schools for the Future.

It looks like there’s £100 million of genuinely new money to help low income home-owners cut their energy bills (through the Warm Front programme that was cut back last year!) and £150 million (possibly new money) on building more affordable homes. Treasury claims this is all adds up to around £500 million for a ‘green stimulus package’, but, as ever, such figures have to be treated with great caution.

But beyond that, what a massively wasted opportunity!

No hint of the “Green Industrial Revolution“ that Government Ministers have been heard talking about over the last year or more. Ironically, Peter Mandelson was banging that very drum at a CBI meeting on the very same day, about the importance of manufacturing in the UK and the importance of green technology within manufacturing. Even the CBI has been calling for Government to be spending ten times more on green technology – up from £250 million today to £2.5 billion.

No hint of any kind of broader ‘Green New Deal’, as in a major economic stimulus package to prioritize investments in the low carbon sustainable economy – as is the case with Barack Obama’s $150 billion package. The contrast here is brilliantly highlighted in the text copy of the latest Greenpeace ad – see below

"If only we could turn every building into a power station.
If only we could build high-speed train links to every city.
If only every building in the country was well insulated.
If only we could develop video conferencing that made you feel you were actually there.
If only all vehicles were super-efficient, like plug-in hybrids.
If only we invested in better public transport that everyone wanted to use.
If only industry used energy efficient electric motors.
If only we could harness the world's largest nuclear power station: the sun.
If only every power station could use its wasted heat to warm our homes and offices.
If only there were giant North Sea wind farms, made in Britain.
If only we could create hundreds of thousands of green collar jobs.
If only Britannia could rule on wave and tidal power.
If only there was a Green Investment Bank to finance a low carbon infrastructure and industry.

If only, if only, if only...

If only we had political leaders with the vision to see the economic benefits of green technology.
If only we had politicians with the resolve to put long-term investment ahead of short-term interests.
If only we could secure jobs and the economy while at the same time securing the future of our planet.

Well, we can.

The Future is green.

Greenpeace"

And no hint at all of any shift in the ambition level of the government as a whole in terms of addressing climate change – notwithstanding the passage of the Climate Change Act with all its new targets and renewed sense of urgency.

What have we got instead of that? Promises of more detailed proposals on the low-carbon economy and the green industrial revolution, following yet more consultations. That should take us through 2009 without too much having to happen. At the heart of the package is the reduction in VAT to encourage consumers to spend more money.

Surreal! At exactly the point where the Government has belatedly recognised the grotesque irresponsibility of having driven the economy via massive, utterly unsustainable credit bubbles (in house prices, personal debt and so on), the answer from Government is to get out and persuade people to spend even more to maintain very high levels of debt, and to massively increase levels of national debt.

Worse yet, the vast majority of commentators seem to think it will make no difference whatsoever to consumers’ readiness to start spending again. The cost to the taxpayer – at least £9 billion over the next 13 months. All of which will have to be paid back by higher taxes from 2010 onwards.

So what kind of government deploys that kind of money to ramp up further unsustainable consumption rather than invest in our sustainable future? Mind-boggling.

See the full Greenpeace ad here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/climate/IfOnly.jpg