High Peak Liberal Democrats

The Amazon is burning.

Make no mistake: there is something that the architects of Brexit are desperately trying to distract us from.

Our planet is in crisis, balanced on a knife-edge at the point of no return.

Due to man-made climate change, global temperatures are soaring, the polar ice caps are melting faster than ever before, and whole nations are already facing the existential crisis of rising sea levels and extreme weather. Whole species of animals are being wiped out month by month, and global famine is a very real threat.

This is something that we can only tackle if we all work together, collaborating with every single nation across the globe. No one will be unaffected, but, just like with Brexit, the poorest in society will suffer first and suffer most deeply.

We need to take action now. The government needs to move much faster and be much more ambitious in the steps it is taking to prevent the largest global crisis the world has ever faced. And as President Trump unpicks environmental protections one by one, harming the whole world in the process, we need to take centre stage as a global leader on tackling man-made climate change.

That's why, at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, our members have just backed radical action to cut carbon emissions by 75% in the next 10 years.

The motion we have just passed commits us to:

1. Ensuring that the net-zero objective is built into decision-making by national and local government, businesses, investors, communities and households. We'll reward rapid progress towards net zero and encourage behavioural change in patterns of living, working, travelling and eating.
2. Creating a Just Transition Commission to advise on how to deliver a net-zero economy that works for everyone. We'll support development in those regions and communities most affected by the transition.
3. Stopping Brexit and working closely with the UK's European and global partners to raise global ambition, develop zero-carbon technologies and increase aid funding to help developing countries reach net zero.
4. Cutting UK greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy costs. We can do this by reducing the demand for energy through measures such as home insulation and greater energy efficiency.
5. Ending the use of fossil fuels in the UK economy. This includes banning fracking and the opening of new coal mines and pits, and replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy.
6. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, including a massive programme of tree planting and the deployment of technological solutions.

We owe it to future generations to leave them a habitable planet.

If we don't take action immediately, the effects of climate change will destroy society as we know it in our own and our children's lifetimes.

With this motion, we're putting plans in place to stop this at all costs. Only a Liberal Democrat government will lead us far enough and quick enough to fight man-made climate change.

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