Whilst I have been setting up my offices in Westminster and Bosworth I have been contacted by many of you concerned about the issue of climate change, I suspect that this issue will be increasingly important in the coming Parliament. There is, rightly, an importance and urgency in the public debate and the threat of global warming has never been more apparent.
I am pleased that the UK has become a world leader in tackling climate change and I hope that future generations will look back on the pioneering work of our country in this field. There have already been achievements. The UK became the first country to legislate to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050 and the fastest in the G20 to cut emissions, but there is much more work to do. At the start of this year when the UN Climate Change Summit is due to take place in Glasgow, I am pleased that the UK Government will use its position as a global leader to ask international partners to match the UK’s ambitions to tackle climate change and preserve our planet for future generations. I thought that it would be helpful to highlight other Government measures.
· £2 billion for new policies since setting the Net Zero targets and a new Prime Minister- chaired Committee on Climate Change.
· The Environmental Bill designed to enshrine in law environmental principles and legally-binding targets.
· A immediate moratorium on fracking with no more fracking taking place in England
· A Local Energy Programme to support Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities to implement energy projects to reduce emissions and benefit their communities.
· A commitment to create thousands of highly skilled, well paid jobs up and down the country in the green economy.
· The development of the Rural Community Energy Fund to support rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects.
This is an ambitious agenda and I hope that our area can benefit from these measures. I also hope that our local public bodies will be taking advantage of these measures and the available funding. Whilst it will be important for the Government to legislate for these schemes and the lead the national conversation on this issue, our local bodies, such as our local Councils, will need to be involved in our area to ensure that climate change is tackled for the benefit of our current and future communities.