The Liberal Democrats have set out plans for five “green laws” as they seek to establish their credentials on protecting the environment and fighting climate change.
The party’s manifesto pledges to bring in laws which would protect nature, cut waste, make transport greener, slash the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency of homes.
A Nature Act would include requirements for the government to set out a 25-year plan for helping the UK’s nature recover, increase access to green spaces, protect forests, bees and birds and tackle wildlife crime.
And, following on from the Tories’ announcement yesterday of a marine protected area around Ascension Island, the Lib Dems have pledged a million square kilometre reserve in the South Atlantic.
A statutory recycling target of 70% for England and bigger fines for waste crimes would form part of new laws on resource efficiency and reducing waste.
On green transport, the Lib Dems want to see new buses and taxis be ultra low emissions by 2030, and for all cars on the road to meet the standard by 2040, while they would bring in low emission zones for polluted towns and cities.
To tackle climate change, they pledge to bring in a target to make Britain “zero-carbon” by 2050, and rules to slash carbon emissions from the power sector by 2030, which would boost renewables to around 60% of electricity generation by that date.
They would also bring in standards which would see unabated coal-fired power stations phased out by 2025.
And to improve energy efficiency in homes, they propose statutory targets for all fuel-poor households to be brought to a decent standard of efficiency by 2027 and targets for all rented homes to reach the same level by that date, as well as providing council tax discounts for “significant” efficiency improvements.
Greenpeace UK chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said: “If many of these pledges on energy and nature protection were to be enacted it would be a huge win for the environment.
“Now we need to know where the red lines are in any negotiations with potential coalition partners, and how high up the priority list environmental improvement is for the Lib Dems. Are their red lines green?”
He welcomed promises to create new marine reserves in the southern Atlantic ocean and pledges on stretching renewable energy targets, pushing international ambition on climate change, and getting important policies like energy efficiency and green innovation into wider housing and business policy.