Declaring a Climate Change Emergency

Thank you for contacting me about the Opposition Day debate to declare a climate emergency. I did attend the debate and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate. I particularly highlighted the level of concern and awareness about climate change amongst young people and in schools.  I do appreciate how important it is to stop climate change and I know that this Government is committed to being the first Government to leave the environment in a better state than we found it.  You will also appreciate that while the Opposition Day debate was important, this was not the first time the issue was raised in parliament. Far from it. Climate change and environmental issues are constantly raised in parliament by MPs from all parties during question time sessions, in adjournment and Westminster hall debates and in 10 minute rule bill debates including one just the day before the Opposition Day debate led by my colleague, the MP for nearby Cheltenham, Alex Chalk.  You can read what was said here:

There is no doubt there is more work to do, climate change is an issue being taken extremely seriously by the Government and I am encouraged by its record on addressing climate change and the environment more broadly. We have banned plastic microbeads,  plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds, introduced the 5p charge on plastic bags, doubled the penalty for littering and pushing to end any confusion over recycling with our Resources and Waste strategy. 

To try and combat emissions, there is a plan to create a Northern Forest from Liverpool to Hull and plant 50 million trees over 25 years, there is now more protection for our bees and pollinators and we are safeguarding almost 12,000 square km of marine habitats. The UK has reduced greenhouse gas emissions faster than any other G20 country and has the best performance on cutting emissions on a per person basis than any other G7 nation. £52 billion has been invested in renewable energy in the UK since 2010, with more than 400,000 people now working in low carbon businesses. It also established the International Climate Fund to provide £5.8 billion to help the world’s poorest adapt to climate change and promote cleaner, greener economic growth. 

Furthermore, the Government has introduced the Industrial Strategy and Clean Growth Strategy to identify and target the huge potential opportunity for the UK from clean growth and transition to low carbon economy, while the National Adaptation Programme 2018-23 sets out a strategy for dealing with the effects of a changing climate.

The UK is widely acknowledged as being a world leader in this area, and if the rest of the world was following our example we would reach global emissions goals considerably earlier than currently forecast.  But we can not be complacent and I repeat, there is much more we could and should do.

Following the recent protests, as well as recent impactful TV programmes highlighting the issues, the media have picked up on Climate Change in a way they never did before.  But to be honest, the importance of this issue was clear to many MPs anyway.  Every time I visit a school or talk to groups of young people in particular it is clear that the environment and climate change is at the forefront of their mind and they are always keen to know what they can personally do to impact things as well as asking what the government can do.  Unless we all act, internationally, nationally, locally and individually, we will not succeed.  A co-ordinated approach is needed and it is essential that government takes a clear lead.

The Climate Change Committee is giving advice on what more we can do to make sure we achieve the 2050 target to reduce emissions of all greenhouse and I welcome their recent announcements and will encourage the government to adopt their advice.   I appreciate that you would like to see the UK increase its ambition on climate change to zero by 2050 at the latest. I share this ambition. I recently participated in a video developed by the Conservative Environment Network pledging just that.  You can see the video here and more information here:

I can assure you that I will push the Government to continue strong action against climate change on your behalf.

Thank you again for contacting me about this.