A Liberal Democrat view on climate change and localism

Speech by Chris Huhne MP delivered to Local Government Association, Leicester on Tue 4th Dec 2007

Thank you for the invitation to be here today. Climate change is the issue of our times. We are literally stealing the planet from our children and our grandchildren. We can and must change course.

Yesterday the UN climate change conference opened in Bali. Its task is a vital one - to ensure that a new post-Kyoto pact is workable and ambitious enough to tackle climate change.

Already change is in the air. The former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been a long-time climate sceptic. Yet faced with physical reality of droughts, climate change became one of the top three issues in Australia.

And the Kyoto-refuser John Howard became the first leader to ban the conventional light-bulb.

But it wasn't enough, for him or for the country. Yesterday Kevin Rudd, in his first official act as Australia's new prime minister, finally ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

We have seen a similar shift in Canada, and even in the United States after New Orleans. More and more people understand the need for action. But climate change is not just a global phenomenon. In Britain, the floods last summer cost more than £3 billion in insurance losses alone. More extreme weather across the country will cause repeated and worsening losses. And we need innovative local solutions to meet them.

Of course central government has a vitally important role to play. That is why I have been so disappointed at some of the efforts of this Government. Does Gordon Brown really get the environment? As Chancellor he cut taxes on pollution, vetoed tolls on lorries to shift freight to rail, and even cut funding on flood defences. Now he is Prime Minister, he has even downgraded the cabinet committee on environment and energy. He will not chair it himself. Brown is not green. Never has been, and never will be.

We all know that climate change is real. The time for talking has passed, the time for action is now. We need to do nothing less than to decarbonise our entire economy.

That is why at our September conference in Brighton the Liberal Democrats passed the Zero Carbon Britain policy paper - the most ambitious plans to tackle climate change put forward by any political party.

In Zero Carbon Britain we set out, sector by sector, how we were going to achieve a zero carbon economy by 2050. And that is why we have tabled vital amendments to give the Climate Change Bill real teeth.

The role of central government is crucial, because each of us needs the reassurance that others will make sacrifices if we do as well. There is nothing more corrosive to the support for tackling climate change than the view that others are not doing their bit.

But climate change cannot be tackled by central government targets and taxes alone. It is absolutely right that councils can have enormous influence not just as an organisation but as service providers and community leaders too. Climate change can seem an overpowering problem. But through simple measures, and committed leadership, it can be taken on.

Last week I spoke at a launch of the Zero Carbon Council initiative. Some of you may already be involved. If we are serious about tackling climate change we need to empower communities to take action locally. Like central government, local councils must reduce their own carbon footprint. But they can and should also act as catalysts for the whole community.

Like Islington Council, who have set up a 3 million pound Climate Change Fund to support green energy and transport capital projects. Local households, voluntary organisations and housing associations can receive grants to install renewable energy.

As Liberal Democrats we are the only party committed to taking power in order to give it away. Throughout this leadership campaign - and for many years before - I have been making the call loud and clear for a democratic revival through empowering local communities. Successive governments have drained power away from local communities towards London.

Among many people this rightly breeds a feeling of disconnect from the political system, as they no longer have the power to tackle their local problems. Our commitment to local democracy and spreading power is essential for re-engaging the electorate in the political process.

But it is also vital because it is the right thing to do.

Local council and decision-takers who deliver world-class services will be re-elected, and those who fail will be booted out. Democracy really does work. We should try it.

Greater local accountability over education and healthcare, so that the system can change and adapt to different and local circumstances.

Local control over planning, so that councils can stop the creation of 'clone towns' and encourage dynamic and diverse community enterprises.

Many of you will have implemented policies to ensure that new developments include on-site renewable energy projects. It is a scandal that the government is trying to ban councils from implementing 'Merton Rule' type policies. Last week I was asked to list my top five most influential books. Among them was George Orwell's Animal Farm, probably the best single demolition of the big state and its lies. But Yvette Cooper seems to have taken inspiration from another of Orwell's books - 1984. She plans to abolish the Merton Rule, while dressing it up as 'Merton Plus.'

Let me be clear: telling local authorities to avoid blanket requirements for renewables in new developments is not 'Merton Plus'. If we are to become a Zero Carbon Britain, and become Zero Carbon Councils, we must keep the power to ensure a percentage of energy in new developments come from on-site renewables.

That is why I am delighted to be a sponsor to Michael Fallon's Private Members Bill to protect the Merton Rule. This really is a cross-party initiative, and I hope you ask Hazel Blears on her position on it this afternoon.

The Department for Communities and Local Government should be empowering communities, not limiting their powers.

You won't be surprised to find that I'm delighted many of the councils leading the way on climate change and the environment are Liberal Democrat run.

Like in North Norfolk, where we pushed recycling rates up from 17% to 40%. Or Waverley, which while under Lib Dem control achieved the largest decrease in household waste in the country.

As a party we have produced a radical plan for upgrading Britain's housing stock, ensuring that through energy mortgages we can bring household energy bills down, when they are currently £385 a year more than the bill of an average Swedish home. What a scandal! But on a local level we're already putting these ideas into action.

Like in Cambridge, where we've achieved energy savings of 35 per cent in our housing stock, Or Newcastle and Sutton where we've championed low energy homes. In Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats have insisted that new developments should be carbon neutral.

But don't just take my word for it. A Guardian survey showed that Lib Dem councils were nearly twice as likely to be selected as among "green leaders" as Labour councils and four times as likely as Tory councils.

As leader of the Liberal Democrats, I want to showcase the excellent work that our councillors are doing across the country. They are one of the biggest strengths of our party.

Liberal Democrat policies do deliver green solutions, and that is an inspiration to all of us in the party. Climate change is too urgent for political games. Too serious for playground politics. We need the green tax switch. We need to tax pollution, not people. We need action on warm homes and low carbon transport, not warm words.

If we are to sustain change, we must also make the case for policy that does not provoke and offend, but goes with the grain of choice and markets. Green action should be fun, not full of hair shirts. And we can do good without alienating old voters. Let's start by putting up windmills in windy locations. What better than alongside our motorway network.

We must be unashamedly ambitious in our proposals to tackle climate change.

But as leader of the Liberal Democrats I will be willing to work with people of all parties and none to ensure that we meet this challenge together. The challenges are huge. But I am beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, we might be able to meet them.