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At Paris, world leaders made an important commitment to limit global heating to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration not to breach 1.5C but the world has not moved fast enough and we have seen the catastrophic consequences in heatwaves, heavy rainfall, droughts and loss of Arctic Sea ice. The UK has already taken major steps in tackling climate change. We have shown that climate action can go hand-in-hand with economic growth. Between 1990 and 2019, our economy grew by 78% and our emissions decreased by 44% over this time, the fastest decline in the G7. The UK was the first major economy to put into law that we will reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the UK is the largest producer of offshore wind energy in the world. We have announced the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK by 2030, putting the UK on course to be the fastest G7 country to decarbonise cars and vans and we are doubling our international climate finance to help developing nations with £11.6bn a year by 2025.
Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire During November, the UK is hosting the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the 26th Conference of Parties or COP26, to bring together world leaders and ask them to commit to urgent global climate action. COP26 will be the largest summit the UK has ever hosted, bringing together representatives from nearly 200 countries.
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Important further changes lie ahead, and it is crucial that the government is transparent on the costs for these changes and leads the debate on how such costs should be shared through society. We are also planting trees on 30,000 hectares of land per year by 2025 and have announced plans that put farmers at the forefront of reversing environmental decline and tackling climate change. We will make climate-related disclosures mandatory across the economy by 2025, with most requirements coming in by 2023 and we have an ambition to have up to 2 million green jobs by 2030. The government can make large scale changes in policies, but each of us has a part to play. That is why, in the run up to the summit, I have been visiting schools across the constituency to learn what our school children are doing in their local communities to fight climate change. At Caldecote Academy, Potton Middle, Wilden Lower, Raynsford Academy, Shortstown Primary, Sutton Lower and Cotton End Forest School, I learned that school children clearly grasp the challenge ahead and are full of creative and exciting ideas of what they are doing in their school, their community, as well as at home to help the collective effort. I will be taking back to Boris Johnson the wonderful ideas I heard, which included making blankets for the homeless out of recycled crisp packets, using old cardboard for Christmas decorations and turning plastic bottles into planters. The message of COP26 is not just directed at world leaders but for all of us to act. For inspiration on what you can do, please visit https://together-for-our-planet.ukcop26.org/
