Enjoying the sunshine? Here’s why you really shouldn’t be

We are currently experiencing extreme heat, with models forecasting the possibility of the UK reaching 40C for the first time ever. Heat health alerts are in place until at least Friday, as the Met Office advises people to stay indoors and look after the elderly and clinically vulnerable. In the summer of 2020, there were 2,500 excess deaths in England as a result of hot weather.

A French weather forecast from 2014 warned of temperatures reaching 43C by August 2050. The forecast went viral in France last month, after temperatures across the country reached 43C – a whole 28 years early. Searing wildfires in California’s Yosemite National Park are right now threatening the world’s largest trees – the giant sequoias – which are thought to have stood for 3,000 years. The climate emergency is here.

Following the hunger strike outside Westminster by concerned citizen Angus Rose, the climate change APPG, of which I am chair, secured an emergency climate science briefing which took place on Monday, led by the UK’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance. And the warning from climate scientists is stark.

A recent report by the Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and planetary health. Any further delay on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

When we hear warnings like this, it’s unsurprising that climate change is consistently a top concern for the public. Sixty per cent of young people are very or extremely worried about the climate emergency. And polling by think tank Onward has shown that not only do 64 per cent of voters back our 2050 net zero target (compared with the 9 per cent who are opposed), but also that 46 per cent stated they would be less likely to vote for a party that ditched net zero.

Which makes it all the more delusional that Tory MPs standing in this increasingly farcical leadership contest are queueing up to suspend our 2050 target. Has the sun blinded their eyes to the climate science?

Some might raise a tentative finger and suggest it was folly to remove a prime minister – reckless, untrustworthy, law-breaking rogue though he was – who at the very least acknowledged the need to act. But that belies the serious lack of progress towards net zero that his government, along with previous governments, has overseen.

Barely a couple of weeks ago, the climate change committee warned in its 2022 report to parliament of a lack of delivery and a “high-wire approach to net zero”. It highlighted either significant risks or a total policy gap for the 38 per cent cut in emissions needed to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget, with a “shocking gap” on energy efficiency and a “glacial” pace in the reduction of agricultural emissions.

Even more concerning are the decisions to dig up yet more fossil fuels, rather than keeping them in the ground – such as the recently approved Jackdaw gas field, and an enormous subsidy for oil and gas companies through the Energy Profits Levy Bill. Not to mention the possibility of the UK’s first new coal mine in 30 years – promising 9 million tonnes of CO2 a year (more than Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast combined) and from which 85 per cent of the coal is destined for export to Europe anyway.

The UK kickstarted the industrial revolution, and was also the first major economy to enshrine net zero in law. Our leadership on the world stage matters. And as legislators it is incumbent upon all of us to act, and to understand the risks of failing to do so.

Yet it is essential that we also appreciate the enormous opportunities of the transition to a sustainable future. We need clean, green, abundant and affordable renewable energy. So it was exciting to see the launch of last week’s Contracts for Difference auction – which in total will generate one eighth of the UK’s electricity demand at four times less than current gas prices.

We need to invest in energy efficiency measures, which would quite literally insulate households from escalating costs and save cash-strapped families an average of between £450 and more than £1,000 per year.

We need to deliver a public transport system that properly connects our communities – enabling people to travel by foot or on their bikes – so that we are no longer tethered to our cars and needlessly polluting the air our children breathe.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

We need to create thousands of high-skilled, high-quality, well-paid green jobs in retrofitting our homes, turbocharging renewables and powering up public transport. This is our chance to reinvigorate our communities, so that every town and city across the UK can reap the rewards of decarbonising our economy.

And we need to restore our precious natural world – our peat bogs, woodland and seas. Not only so that future generations are able to delight in their wonder, but so that they draw down carbon and protect us from future climate effects.

As the sun bears down on us this week, we must remember that we don’t need – and can’t afford – to keep pouring fuel on the fire. The solutions to the climate emergency are staring us in the face. We just need to get on and make them a reality.

Caroline Lucas is the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion