It should come as no surprise that Lord Smith, the outgoing head of the Environment Agency, has conceded today (June 26) that David Cameron's administration has failed to live up to its promise to be "the greenest government ever", says the Green Party.
The Coalition government has missed countless opportunities to deliver on its now laughable environmental promise says the Greens, the only party who take the threat posed by human-made climate change seriously.
Asked whether the Coalition had been "the greenest ever", Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "By and large, no.
"It is really disappointing that this Government hasn't done as much as it promised it was going to do in relation to the environment.
Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett said:
"The reality of this government's behaviour is far worse even than Lord Smith portrayed.
"Not only has this government failed to live up in any way to its 'greenest ever' pledge, the Coalition has been actively damaging to the environment. It has taken Britain backwards on many critical issues.
"On energy policy, the Green Deal, designed for the benefit of the financial sector, has failed to deliver the warm, affordable-to-heat homes we need to tackle fuel poverty. Continuously shifting policy has all too often left the renewable energy generation sector stranded and the Government has done little to support community energy ownership.
"On transport policy, new roads, often reviving 'zombie' projects dismissed as pointless in the 1980s, and the energy-intensive, ill-conceived HS2 project have taken us in entirely the wrong direction. All this when the Government should be pumping support into walking and cycling (with further benefits to the NHS), and growing, not slashing, support for the local buses that help people get around their local communities.
"And this government has offered developers an open invitation to destroy our natural treasures, with greenbelt building and biodiversity offsetting, while failing to act on strong recommendations from a Royal Commission to start to protect our vulnerable seas.
"This Government will be remembered as having presided over five lost environmental years, when Britain suffered harm that will be evident for generations."