General Election 2024

The Conservatives have a proud record on reducing emissions, and we are a world leader in climate change. We were the first Western country to legislate to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and we have decarbonised faster than any other major economy since 1990. Between 1990 and 2023 we have cut emissions by around 53 per cent while growing our economy by around 80 per cent.

Domestically produced renewable energy helps us reach our climate targets and provides households with cheaper energy. That’s why we have invested billions of pounds since 2010 into homegrown, renewable energy. Our ambition is to decarbonise the power sector by 2035. In 2010, around 6.5 per cent of our generated electricity was from renewables. In the second half of 2023, 44.5 percent of electricity generation was from renewables.

The £25 million Species Survival Fund has now launched and will help drive the action needed to halt the decline in species. The funding will support projects with up to £3 million to tackle habitat loss, safeguard our fragile ecosystems and create nature-rich landscapes full of wildlife-friendly habitats such as grasslands, woodlands and wetlands. These projects could include restoring and connecting wildlife-rich habitats across a landscape or developing the resilience of particular species such as reptiles, birds and pollinators. The scheme will also create green jobs and provide vocational employment opportunities.

This fund and Local Nature Recovery Strategies will play a key role in helping to achieve the Government’s legally binding and ambitious target of halting nature’s decline by 2030, as set out in its Environmental Improvement Plan. I know that environmental not-for-profit organisations, National Park Authorities and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, local authorities, farmers and land managers are all invited to apply for the funding.

I am aware that six new Nature Recovery Projects have been launched by Natural England. These projects, supported by £7.4 million of funding and amounting to 176,000 hectares of land across England, will create improved and better-connected habitats for wildlife and improve public access to nature. They will help to manage flooding and wildfire risks, improve carbon stores and build diverse habitats for wildlife. These projects will also help to achieve the Government’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of UK land and sea for nature by 2030.

On a local level, I am pleased that North Yorkshire Council has been awarded £388,000 to prepare a localised, tailored strategy to support and recover nature, using local expertise from across the area. Working closely with farmers, landowners and managers, North Yorkshire Council will coordinate practical and targeted measures to help recover nature as part of the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan. I was also happy to see that £1,443,739 has been awarded to the Great North Bog conservation project, which covers peatland throughout Skipton and Ripon.

Finally, I was pleased that, following conversations I had in Parliament, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has confirmed that the ‘Denton Park Estate’, ‘Ure Dales’ and ‘Heart of the Dales’ projects in Skipton and Ripon have been awarded funding through the second round of the Landscape Recovery scheme.

To protect our water, we have increased the monitoring of storm overflows in England to 100 per cent – more than any other nation in the UK. When Labour left office in 2010 only 7 percent of overflows were monitored.

We are cracking down on companies that pollute our rivers, including by introducing unlimited penalties for environmental breaches and giving regulators more powers to fine water companies. We scrapped the cap on civil penalties and broadened their scope to target a much wider range of offences – from breaches of storm overflow permits to the disposal of hazardous waste. Our plan to crack down on water pollution has led to 59 successful prosecutions against water companies that pollute illegally, securing fines of over £150 million which will be reinvested into our water.

We are also banning bonuses for bosses of water companies that have committed criminal breaches, with the ban applying to all executive board members and Chief Executives, alongside introducing new powers for Ofwat to clamp down on excessive dividends when environmental performance has been poor, through new powers made possible through the Environment Act.

The action we have taken is delivering results, including completing in March 2024 the £5 billion 25 kilometre long Thames Tideway Tunnel, one of the biggest upgrades to the sewage network in Britain’s history, which will divert 34 of the most polluting storm overflows.

We are launching a new plan to clean up the River Wye, backed by £35 million to protect the long-term health of the river. Our plan will require poultry farms to export manure away from areas where it would cause excess pollution and see the appointment of a new ‘River Champion’ and taskforce to drive change on the Wye.

We are also requiring Ofwat to incentivise water companies to invest to reduce the use of storm overflows. Between 2020 and 2025, water companies will invest £7.1 billion for environmental improvements in England, as well as £56 billion through the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan over 25 years.

On transport, the Government announced that in 2035 sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans will end. This target will help the UK hit its ambitious, legally binding target to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while supporting jobs in the electric vehicle manufacturing sector. Aligning with EU countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy and US states such as New York and California will position the UK in the optimal position to transition from internal combustion engine vehicles fair and proportionately.

Moreover, the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, launched in July 2021, commits to delivering a Net Zero rail network by 2050, with sustained carbon reductions in rail along the way. The Government's ambition is to remove all diesel-only trains from the network by 2040. Between 2010/11 and 2022/23 around 1265 miles of track have been electrified, in contrast between 1997/98 to 2009/10, around 63 miles of track were electrified in Great Britain (excluding around 7 miles of an electrical format conversion on the North London Line).

While decarbonising private vehicles is a key part of the Government's net-zero strategy, the Government is also working to make public transport more easily accessible, as well as encouraging people to walk and cycle more.

The Government is delivering £5 billion of investment in buses, cycling and walking over the Parliament. The 2021 Autumn Budget included £710 million of new investment in active travel funding over the next three years, with a further £355 million announced for zero emission buses.