The Labour party is preparing for government. At least, it hopes it is.

The talk in the corridors of the party’s annual conference is bullish, with shadow cabinet ministers plotting ways to put themselves into office next May. One thing is clear: they think presenting Labour as a climate champion could be a way to differentiate themselves from their Conservative rivals.

We went to Manchester to find out what a Labour government might do to the UK’s energy and climate policy.

Energy efficiency

Unsurprisingly, Labour says it’s unhappy with the government’s current policies.

Labour’s most prominent energy announcement this year is a plan to  overhaul household energy efficiency schemes. Party leader Ed Miliband nodded to the policy in his speech this afternoon, saying it was part of the party’s plan to become a “world leader in the green economy”.

Shadow energy and climate change secretary Caroline Flint today claimed a range of policies including free home energy assessments and a “decency standard” for rented properties should help five million homes become energy efficient in the next 10 years.

Labour would provide interest free loans for DIY home improvements, she announced. This contrasts with the government’s current scheme that offers loans at a the market rate, which consumers pay back through their energy bills.

Flint said all this could be done “without spending any more money or adding to anyone’s energy bill”.

The government would raise a levy on energy companies, and then distribute the funds through local authorities, shadow energy and climate minister Jonathan Reynolds told a fringe meeting. It’s unclear if energy companies would then be able to pass that cost on to consumers through their bills.

It’s also unclear whether more Treasury money will be made available for the improvements as part of Labour classifying the scheme as a “national infrastructure priority”.

Labour has said it will consult the private sector and NGOs on the best way to deliver the plan in the coming months.

Pushing decarbonisation

The party doesn’t only plan on changing how energy efficiency policies work.

Labour has also pledged to put a national decarbonisation target into law if it gets elected. The target would require the government to ensure the UK’s power sector becomes increasingly low carbon over time.

The coalition decided not to include a target in last year’s energy legislation after months of debate and a short-lived Liberal Democrat rebellion. But a legally binding target is the best way to ensure the private sector makes long-term low carbon investments, shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex told a fringe meeting.

Miliband told the conference the target showed Labour cares about the environment even though it “isn’t that fashionable any more”.

Labour would also broaden the number of actors it would allow to provide power to the UK when margins get tight, energy and climate change committee member Alan Whitehead told another fringe event.

The government is launching a capacity market to ensure the UK always has enough power to keep the lights on. Most of this is expected to come from gas power plants. But that excludes alternative, lower carbon options, Whitehead said.

Interconnectors linking the UK to Europe and Iceland should also be allowed to bid to provide power, he argues. That way, the UK could import low carbon power rather than simply “paying gas power plants just to exist”.

Companies should also be able to offer to switch off, reducing the amount of power that’s needed, he said. The way the capacity market is currently designed means the UK is unlikely to get the lowest carbon energy mix, he argued.

Climate leader

Labour also wants to realign the UK’s messaging on climate change.

Greatrex said a Labour government would attract investment by “relentlessly driving” a low carbon agenda. He contrasts this with the current government’s stance, which is “unclear”, he said.

Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle was more direct in her criticism. “Three quarters of Tory MPs don’t accept that human activity is causing climate change”, she said in her podium speech, referring to a poll released a couple of weeks ago.

In contrast, Labour should “work with scientists” to design the UK’s climate policy, Anneliese Dodds, MEP for the South East told a fringe meeting last night. Former environment minister Owen Paterson famously refused a briefing from the Met Office’s chief scientist during his time in office.

That can differentiate Labour from the Conservatives come election time, Reynolds told the same meeting. “If you want evidence of how radical Labour can be, look at its energy and climate policy,” he said.

Price freeze

So Labour plans to do a lot. But there’s been scant mention of its most high profile energy policy: Miliband’s promise to freeze energy bills for 20 months, should Labour get elected.

Critics are concerned the price freeze could stifle low carbon investment, but Labour’s energy and climate team has so far largely avoided the issue.

When prompted, Whitehead said the price freeze needs to be seen in the context of Labour’s wider energy policy. Freezing prices for 20 months gives Labour the opportunity to implement its ten-point plan to fix the energy market, announced last year, he said.

In essence, it would mean Labour presses pause on the energy market while the new government “changes the rules of the game”, Flint told the conference.

There remain questions over the practicality of the plan, however. And Labour’s energy team is going to lengths to emphasise that the price freeze is one of a suite of policies, rather than the bastion of its reforms.

Climate politics

Labour is clearly determined to tout itself as the climate-friendly party going into next year’s election. “There is no more important issue for me when I think about my childrens’ generation and what I can do in politics, than tackling global climate change”, Miliband told the conference today.

Time will tell whether the public votes to give Labour the chance to translate its words into action. Next week, the Conservatives will do their best to persuade the public to do otherwise.