NATIONAL POLICIES​

 

The Conservative Party 2019 General Election Manifesto, set out the Party’s national approach to Climate Change and the Environment as follows: 

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Fight climate change and protect the environment

Conservation is, and always has been, at the heart of Conservatism. Our Government’s stewardship of the natural environment, its focus on protecting the countryside and reducing plastic waste, is a source of immense pride.

 

But today, the climate emergency means that the challenges we face stretch far beyond our borders.

 

Thanks to the efforts of successive Governments, the UK has cut carbon emissions by more than any similar developed country. We are now the world’s leader in offshore wind – a fantastic success story of Government and the private sector working hand in hand to cut costs and deliver ever more electricity at plummeting costs.

 

Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, we believe that free markets, innovation and prosperity can protect the planet.

 

Yet we recognise that there is far more that needs to be done.

 

• We will lead the global fight against climate change by delivering on our world-leading target of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as advised by the independent Committee on Climate Change. We have doubled International Climate Finance. And we will use our position hosting the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in 2020 to ask our global partners to match our ambition.

 

• We will set up new international partnerships to tackle deforestation and protect vital landscapes and wildlife corridors. We will establish a new £500 million Blue Planet Fund to help protect our oceans from plastic pollution, warming sea temperatures and overfishing, and extend the Blue Belt programme to preserve the maritime environment. We will continue to lead diplomatic efforts to protect 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Our first Budget will prioritise the environment: investing in R&D; decarbonisation schemes; new flood defences, which will receive £4 billion in new funding over the coming years; electric vehicle infrastructure including a national plug-in network and gigafactory; and clean energy.

 

In the next decade, we will work with the market to deliver two million new high quality jobs in clean growth. We have ambitious targets:

 

• Our world-leading offshore wind industry will reach 40GW by 2030, and we will enable new floating wind farms.

 

• We will invest £800 million to build the first fully deployed carbon capture storage cluster by the mid-2020s.

 

• We will invest £500 million to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques.

 

• We will support gas for hydrogen production and nuclear energy, including fusion, as important parts of the energy system, alongside increasing our commitment to renewables.

 

• We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system.

 

• We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely. We will help lower energy bills by investing £9.2 billion in the energy efficiency of homes, schools and hospitals.

 

• We will support clean transport to ensure clean air, as well as setting strict new laws on air quality. We will consult on the earliest date by which we can phase out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars.

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