I believe (and have said for many years, including long before I became an MP) that climate change and antibiotic resistance are the two greatest threats to humanity.
That's why I introduced, as Cheltenham's MP, a Bill to Parliament which legally committed the UK to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. I chose that date because that was the timeline provided by the IPCC in 2018 as necessary to keep to the Paris climate target of 1.5 degree heating.
I was grateful to the Climate Coalition for judging me the winner of their ‘MP Climate Action’ award at the Green Heart Hero Awards in 2020, for being the MP from any party who took more action than any other to tackle climate change in that year.
I note that the campaign seeks to set legally binding emissions targets. However, the UK has already set ambitious interim targets, including a 68 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and a 78 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035, also compared to 1990 levels. These targets build on the Ten Point Plan and put the UK firmly on the path to net zero by 2050, leading the way in tackling climate change globally.
Furthermore, the Government also amended the Environment Act 2021 to include a new, historic, legally binding target on species abundance for 2030 to halt the decline of nature, and to address the unacceptable amount of sewage discharged by water companies into our rivers.
The Green Jobs Taskforce was established to help the Government better understand how the UK could grasp opportunities of the Green Industrial Revolution. The findings and recommendations from the taskforce have helped develop and inform the recently-published Net Zero Strategy. In the strategy, the Government announced its ambition to support up to 440,000 jobs across net zero industries in 2030, contributing towards a broader pivot to a greener economy which could support 2 million jobs in green sectors or by greening existing sectors.
The Government will work with business to grow green industries, supply chains and skills in the UK, and ensure resilience to international changes in supply chains.
I was strongly encouraged by the progress and agreements achieved at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021. The Glasgow Pact calls on countries to accelerate efforts towards the phase down of unabated coal power and phase out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, while providing targeted support to the poorest and most vulnerable in line with national circumstances and recognising the need for support towards a just transition.
Finally, on the question of what we are doing right now to make a difference, I would mention the following:
1. The UK has reduced GHG emissions faster than any other G7 country – cutting them by around 45% on 1990 levels
2. Our country is removing dirty, polluting coal from the energy mix by 2025 – at a time when other European countries continue to rely heavily on coal for thermal power stations
3. We set the world’s most ambitious climate change target into law of reducing emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, compared to 1990 levels
4. We have set out a Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution that lays out how the UK can forge ahead in eradicating our contribution to climate change and achieving net zero
The Plan referred to above is available in full on Gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial- revolution. A written ministerial statement has also been published on this matter https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-11- 18/hcws586 if you would like to read more.
Doing my best to summarise the document, the Plan spans clean energy, buildings, transport, nature and innovative technologies. It will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK, and unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030. The plan covers a wide range of sectors.
I won’t list them all, merely mentioning by way of example that it includes a project to produce enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs. The Plan also includes an aim to create 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, and we are aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
I would also just mention carbon capture. We plan to become a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.
I hope this reassures you that the Government is continuing to reduce emissions and tackle climate change as we work towards net zero.
In common with many MPs, I do not sign EDMs as they create a burden on the taxpayer and are not, in my experience, an effective way of achieving meaningful political change. As a Solicitor General, I am also not permitted to do so.