Ahead of tomorrow’s General Election, the group has produced a league table in which it assesses the policies of the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party against its own manifesto asks.

Labour scored 9.5 out of a possible 14 points for its surface transport, aviation and climate change policies. This comes after the party announced plans to electrify all of England’s 35,000 strong bus fleet by 2030 last week.

The Greens gained eight points and the Liberal Democrats seven, while the Conservatives scored just half a point.

“Environmental issues have been given greater priority in this election than ever before – and with the world in the midst of an ecological and climate crisis this must be the next government’s top priority,” said Friends of the Earth’s head of political affairs Dave Timms.

A key ask from the group was a commitment to move significantly faster on climate change than the current net zero by 2050 target. All parties but the Conservatives pledge to meet this aim before the middle of the century.

Friends of the Earth also called for major investment of over £14Bn in transforming public transport, cycling and walking. The Conservatives scored 0.5 on this while the other parties gained one point apiece.

Key Conservative pledges include building Northern Powerhouse Rail, supporting city regions to upgrade their bus, tram and train services ‘to make them as good as London’s’ and creating a £350M Cycling Infrastructure Fund.

Labour plans to bring about a shift towards sustainable transport systems, pledging £7.2Bn for zero carbon active travel modes in its first term alongside reversing bus cuts and supporting a transition to ultra low emission vehicles.

The Liberal Democrats also promise to restore bus routes, invest in public transport and place higher priority on encouraging walking and cycling while the Greens would spend £2.5Bn a year on new cycle and foot paths, reduce public transport fares and invest in rail capacity and electric vehicles.

Labour and the Greens were the only parties to score against Friends of the Earth’s call to review the £28.8Bn strategic and major road building programme, while the latter exclusively scored for its pledge to cancel High Speed 2.

All parties except the Conservatives include promises to set a 2030 cut off date for the sale of diesel cars, vans and buses in their manifestos. Labour and the Liberal Democrats were the only parties to score for backing legislation to introduce legally binding targets to meet international air pollution standards by 2030.

The Green Party scored a point for its clear commitment to end all airport expansion while the Liberal Democrats gained 0.5 for proposing to scrap Heathrow’s third runway and Labour 0.5 for setting ‘very tough conditions’ for expansion.

Dave Timms said: “Many of the policies that Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Green Party have put forward are commensurate with, or striving to meet, the challenges we face. It is disappointing we have not yet seen the same urgency, ambition or consistency from the Conservative Party.”

The Conservative Party was approached for comment.

(Photograph: secretlondon123 and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)