Bold Climate Leadership

I am deeply concerned about climate change because I want my children and grandchildren to inherit a world that is safe, healthy, & sustainable. Climate change is the most significant global issue facing us today and it must not be ignored. I know young people are acutely aware of the impact of climate change and have serious concerns about our planet’s future. 

The UK is being forced to confront issues such as the decline of our biodiversity, air pollution and the cleanliness of our water but is vulnerable to every aspect of the climate crisis. We must ensure the UK develops an energy strategy that is sustainable, addresses the climate challenge and meets the needs of local communities. Internationally many poor communities are on the frontline of increasing temperatures and dwindling resources. We must consequently work with our international partners to adopt an approach that ignores neither their voices, nor those of the disadvantaged in our society. In short climate change must be tackled locally, nationally and internationally in a way that lessens and does not increase economic disadvantage.

That is why we must also grow the economy and create jobs. I remain unpersuaded by those who argue airport expansion is bad for the economy; however, I am certain it can only be countenanced provided it is done without breaching our net zero, noise reduction, & air quality commitments. Until that time, a third runway at Heathrow remains unacceptable.

Investing in renewables is the greatest economic growth opportunity in this century. In their attempts to kowtow to Donald Trump, the Conservatives and Nigel Farage have adopted anti-renewable, anti-environment policies which will prevent billions of pounds being invested into the UK economy and destroy tens of thousands of well-paid jobs. They should be working to build a consensus on climate action - not opportunistically working to destroy it.

At our Autumn Conference 2025, we passed an ambitious policy paper which explains how Liberal Democrats want this generation to be the first to leave the UK, and the world, in a better condition than we found it, including committing to achieving 95% decarbonisation of power by 2030, and support further growth to enable electricity to replace fossil fuel use in other sectors. 

You can read our policy paper in full, here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/conference/papers/autumn-2025/for-people-for-planet#