Ambitious spending plans to tackle climate change

The Liberal Democrats have set out ambitious £100 billion spending plans to tackle the climate emergency, including generating 80% of our electricity from renewables and retrofitting all homes by 2030.

Launching their ‘Plan to Tackle the Climate Emergency’ (found here), the Liberal Democrat's Climate Emergency spokesperson Wera Hobhouse declared that “the climate emergency is upon us and we need to take radical action now.”

The plan includes the full costings of how the Liberal Democrats would spend £100 billion tackling the climate emergency and details on how they would cut greenhouse gases in every sector of the economy to achieve net-zero.

Plans in the Liberal Democrat’s ‘Our Plan to Tackle the Climate Emergency’ include:

• Generating 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030.
• Retrofitting all homes – cutting energy bills – and targeting those in fuel poverty first by 2025.
• Planting 60 million trees a year to increase UK forest cover.
• Ensuring all new cars sold are electric by 2030.
• Banning all non-essential non-recyclable single-use plastic within three years.

Commenting on the Liberal Democrats' ‘Our Plan for Tackling the Climate Emergency’, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for the Climate Emergency Wera Hobhouse said:

“The climate emergency is real. It’s upon us and we need to take radical action now. Our children will never forgive us if we allow the climate crisis to rob them of their future. The Liberal Democrats have a fully-costed, bold plan to protect our planet now and for generations to come.

“Neither Labour nor the Tories have a real plan for the climate emergency. Their desire for Brexit means we would have less money to invest in this crisis. Brexit would leave us out in the cold internationally and unable to work cooperatively with our European partners on this global issue.

“Young people and children across the world have been crying out for politicians to take action on the climate crisis. The Liberal Democrats are listening and will make real change happen. We will build a world with clean air, clean waters, and where wildlife can flourish.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a realistic but radical plan to achieve net-zero carbon emission by 2045. A Liberal Democrat government will generate 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030, plant 60 million trees a year and invest £100 billion in tackling the climate emergency to build a brighter future for our planet."