October 2023
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about climate change.
It is crucial that we recognise the importance and urgency of action needed on climate change. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that the world is warming faster than anticipated, the effects of which are being seen in every single region of our planet. Immediate global action is needed to limit warming, heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and loss of Arctic Sea ice, snow cover and permafrost.
The debate on climate change has been stuck between two extremes. It’s important to bring everyone with us as we forge ahead in eradicating the UK’s contribution to climate change. We can do this and still meet our international commitments and interim domestic targets.
The UK was the first G7 country to legislate to achieve net zero by 2050, and I am proud that the UK has made progress to cut emissions faster than any other G7 country, having already slashed emissions by 48 per cent, compared to 41 per cent in Germany, 23 per cent in France, as well as surpassing the targets most countries have set for 2030. It is this over-delivery on reducing emissions that provides the space to take a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach to reaching net zero. I am pleased that these recently revised plans will ease the burden on working people, as the Government has made it clear that the plans to meet net zero will only succeed if public support is maintained.
However, the UK accounts for less than 1 cent of global emissions; clearly, global action is required. When the UK took on the COP26 Presidency, in partnership with Italy, only 30 per cent of the world was covered by net zero targets. This figure is now at around 90 per cent. I am strongly encouraged by the ambitions of the Glasgow Climate Pact which calls on accelerated global efforts to phase down unabated coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, while providing targeted transitional support to the poorest and most vulnerable in line with national circumstances.
I am encouraged that the UK will produce enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we currently produce to 50GW by 2030, and supporting up to 60,000 jobs, and I welcome the Prime Minister’s recent announcement about promoting more offshore wind. The Government will work with industry and aim to generate 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes. In addition, the Government aims to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade. The Government has launched a new Energy Security Strategy, which will see a significant acceleration of nuclear, with an ambition of up to 24GW by 2050 to come from what I am assured by my ministerial colleagues is a safe, clean, and reliable source of power.
Other measures include a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028, £1 billion funding to make our schools, hospitals and homes more energy efficient, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year, promoting and investing in zero-emission transport and £20 million to develop clean maritime technology. The plan also includes a pledge to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.
The next decade is critical; every country, government, business and citizen must unite to tackle this huge threat to our planet and humanity.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Best wishes,
Angela Richardson MP
Member of Parliament for Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages