Plans announced by the Conservatives to remove the Climate Change Act would harm the UK’s economy, communities and our natural world. Please find a statement below from Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, the biggest environmental coalition in England.
Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said:
"Scrapping the Climate Change Act would be an act of national self-harm. Politicians who bewail the UK's diminishing influence should remember that the Climate Change Act changed the world for the better. It was copied across the globe and inspired billions of pounds of investment in renewable energy and nature-restoration, from the tropical rainforests to British peatlands. It was a cross-party promise to the people that politicians would never again put short-term opportunism over the health and prosperity of our children – a promise that should not be broken for political convenience.
“By contrast, cheap fossil fuel futures are a mirage. The real route to lasting security is in homegrown clean power, not burning more fossil fuels. Without binding climate law, ministers will be free to trade away our future – and it is nature and the poorest communities that will pay the price.
“Reform has already set out a reckless race to the bottom, and now the Conservatives risk following them. Instead of tearing down our strongest protections, politicians should bind nature recovery into the Climate Change Act – making sure every cut in carbon is matched by new woodland, restored wetlands, and thriving wild places. That’s the path to a wilder, greener, more prosperous Britain.”
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