Green energy a priority for Lib Dems
The Liberal Democrats have launched plans for five new laws with a view to protecting the environment. The party’s latest manifesto looks to include legal targets for clean air and water, reducing dirty coal power station usage, introducing an ambitious decarbonisation target for the electricity sector.
The environment has been at the top of the Lib Dem’s priorities for many years. To build on their progress, they are looking to increase the rise in renewable energy, and to focus on the Green Investment Bank and progress investment in our railways.
The five green laws are:
1. A Nature Bill – dealing with measures such as legal targets for biodiversity, clean air and water and access to green space. In addition they are seeking to establish new marine and coastal reserves.
2. A Heating and Energy Efficiency Bill – to progress the Green Deal with a national programme to raise energy efficiency standards for homeowners.
3. A Zero Waste Britain Bill – to create a Stern Report on resource usage. This will hold binding targets and clear action plans to reduce waste and biodegradable landfill.
4. A Green Transport Bill – creating a full network of charging points for electric cars and from 2040, only allowing low emission vehicles on the roads.
5. A Zero Carbon Britain Bill – to look at implementing a decarbonisation target for electricity generation and expanding the powers given to the Green Investment Bank.
Energy and Climate Change Minister for Lib Dems, Ed Davey said:
“The environment has always been a top priority for the Liberal Democrats and while we have achieved a huge amount on our green agenda in the Coalition, it’s hardly a secret that this has been one of the biggest areas of tension. Liberal Democrats see our duty to protect our environment for future generations as a central political and moral challenge. This is not something we can, or should, try and sidestep. In this Parliament, we’ve made a big step forward particularly on green energy, but other areas have not seen such progress. So we want to use the next Parliament to make a major leap forward on the environmental agenda across the board.”
“Our five green laws will focus on a range of environmental issues that people really care about - air quality for health, access to green space and tree planting. And we want to make it as easy as possible to go green and by introducing higher new standards, industries from construction through to waste, heating and transport will have to help us all become more sustainable – as many leading, innovating firms are already doing.”
“Between now and next May, the Liberal Democrats will be putting forward these new green ideas and asking people for their views so we can finalise them for our General Election manifesto. While everyone knows the Tories have been an obstacle to our greener vision, people have forgotten that Labour simply failed to deliver on these important areas when they were in government. So the choice is clear: if you care about the environment and want to see a greener, cleaner Britain then only the Liberal Democrats can deliver this in Government for you.”