The climate and nature crisis, “may not feel as urgent as a terrorist or an imperialist autocrat. But it is more fundamental. It is systemic. It’s pervasive. And accelerating towards us at pace.”
These words, from the Foreign Secretary this week in his first major foreign policy speech, made it clear that governmental action on climate is also action on our security, our prosperity and our future.
We’ve all experienced the impact of climate change as Britain’s weather is increasingly extreme and unpredictable. More hot and wet days are recorded year on year.
Severe floods affected Bedfordshire last winter and just a brief look at the news from this week alone I can see that,
- Storm Boris is wreaking havoc in central Europe with mass evacuations and fatalities
- Rivers in the Amazon basin have reached their lowest on record
- A wildlife charity has declared a national ‘butterfly emergency’ in the UK after its annual Big Butterfly Count recorded its lowest-ever numbers
- Flooding at Worcestershire Cricket Club has forced them to play their first two Championship home games at a different ground
The unprecedented energy shock that followed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a major factor in the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. It has been a disaster for business, family finances, the economy and the public finances.
The potential for climate change to disrupt every area of our lives, from a small to colossal and fatal scale is plain to see. So, I’m glad the Government is prioritising urgent action at home and abroad.
Approaching 100 days in office now, you can already see the difference a Labour Government is making to address the defining issue of our time.
We have lifted the de facto ban on onshore wind in England
- Pledged to end new oil and gas licenses while guaranteeing a fair transition in the North Sea
- We are committed to switching on Great British Energy to crowd investment into clean power projects
- We have launched a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan, for completion before the end of this year, so that we can clean our rivers, plant millions more trees, improve our air quality and halt the decline in species
- And with over 90% of the UK’s biodiversity within our Overseas Territories, we are looking to expand the Blue Belt programme to increase marine protection.
The energy crisis has shown us that fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security, or indeed the affordability, we need.
As the Climate Change Committee has concluded, “British-based renewable energy is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce vulnerability to volatile global fossil fuel markets.”
That means that if we are serious about energy security, family security, economic security and national security, we need the greater energy independence that only clean energy can give us.
This is a chance to create hundreds of thousands of good jobs and drive investment into all parts of the UK.
That is why our clean energy mission is at the heart of our growth mission which will also improve our health and wellbeing.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford & Kempston.
It is published unedited and does not
reflect the views of the Bedford Independent.
