Climate change is no longer a distant prospect. Last month’s record-breaking heatwave was yet another reminder of the scale of the environmental crisis we face.
Across the UK and around the world, we are already seeing the consequences. Europe is warming at around twice the global average. The extreme heat last summer claimed the lives of over 1,500 people in England alone.
Food supplies are coming under increasing pressure, driving up costs for families at every shop. Floods and wildfires are making homes uninsurable and putting lives and livelihoods at risk.
Without urgent action to cut emissions, these impacts will only become more damaging and more expensive. The cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of acting now.
When the UK became the first major economy to commit to legally binding net zero emissions by 2050, it was because the science showed us that this is our best chance to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid the worst climate impacts for future generations.
Reaching net zero is the only way to slow and stop the rate of climate change. Denying that is a denial of the science, and the worst short-termism that the Climate Change Act was designed to avoid.
That is why the Liberal Democrats support the Government’s new emissions reduction target, based on the independent advice of the Climate Change Committee. Building on the progress Britain has already made in halving emissions is the right thing to do.
While Reform and the Conservatives bury their heads in the sand and deny the science, the Liberal Democrats will always choose people and planet, jobs and investment, science and common sense.
Because reaching net zero also offers one of the greatest economic opportunities of our generation. Research from CBI Economics and ECIU shows the green economy is already contributing more than £100bn and over one million jobs. Clean power and decarbonisation is about growing our economy, creating jobs, lowering energy bills and strengthening our energy security.
Nigel Farage’s plans, and Kemi Badenoch’s desperate attempt to imitate him, aren’t just a denial of science, but also of economics. It would mean billions in potential investment would vanish, tens of thousands of high-quality jobs - from offshore wind to electric vehicles - would be put at risk, and the UK’s industrial future would stall.
However, the challenge is that targets alone are not enough. Leadership means action, and the government’s pace of delivery has been far too incremental.
The UK has some of the least energy-efficient housing in Europe and millions of people still living in cold, leaky homes, so why are the government ending home upgrade schemes without a clear replacement?
Why are new homes still being built without solar panels over a year after the government accepted Lib Dem proposals to make it mandatory?
Why are we not supporting global efforts to tackle deforestation by contributing to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) or introducing due diligence regulations to ensure products that are the result of illegal deforestation are removed from our shelves?
And why is the government trying to undermine protections for nature, one of our most powerful tools for tackling climate change, while pressing ahead with airport expansion?
The new carbon budget provides a real opportunity to change course. If the government wants the public to have confidence in its climate commitments, targets aren’t enough. People must see and feel the change that bold delivery can bring.
Done properly, it can help create good jobs, provide communities with more green space, help households take back control of their energy bills from fossil fuel despots, and make people feel reassured about their future.
While other parties abandon the environment, Liberal Democrats remain committed to the fight and will keep pushing for the action this crisis demands.