Over the last 150 years CO2 levels have risen by a third.Average temperatures around the world have risen by 0.8ºC. Arctic iceshelves have broken up and mountain glaciers are retreating. Patternsof winds and ocean currents are changing. Damage caused by storms,droughts and floods is increasing.

On present trends the temperature is set to rise by up to 8ºC by 2100.Sea levels will rise up to three feet, devastating Bangladesh, the Niledelta, dozens of islands and a large part of East Anglia. Manyriverside towns in Britain face regular flooding. A sudden and completedieback of the Amazon rainforest is forecast for mid-century. Malaria,dengue fever and other diseases will spread. And every time moreinformation becomes available things look worse.

Our Aims

The Green Party aims to reduce the terrifying effects of climate change with concrete, wide-ranging measures. We have a 12-point plan on how to tackle global warming in the UK.

The Green Party would:

1. Adopt the "Contraction and Convergence" model for CO2 reductions, to achieve reductions in a globally equitable manner.
2. Aim for 90% CO2 emissions reductions by 2050.
3. Pass the Home Energy Conservation Bill, aiming at 30% reductions in UK domestic energy demand in 10 years.
4. Scrap the national roadbuilding programme and invest the £30bn from the programme in green transport.
5. Pass the Air Traffic Emissions Reduction Bill, aiming for 50% CO2 reductions in aviation by 2050.
6. End subsidies to fossil fuel and nuclear power and set targets for renewable energy production to meet 90% of domestic and industrial energy demand by 2050.
7. Establish 2 million solar roofs by 2010.
8. Build 2 million small-scale wind energy systems by 2010.
9. End the £9bn annual tax break to the aviation industry by 2010
10. Implement the Green Party's Smart Energy Conservation Strategy, a plan to cut local authorities CO2 emissions.
11. Raise at least £2bn a year from ecotaxes to invest in non-nuclear renewable energy by 2010.
12. Support sustainable projects in developing countries.

Addressing Your Concerns

• How can Britain do anything?

After disowning the Kyoto agreement, the prospects of the US doing much are slender.So the best way to get concerted action is by European countries takinga lead. Progressive countries with much greener cultures sharing powerwill help. Britain can play a key role in leading renewable energytechnology, using our unmatched resources of potential wind and tidalpower.

• Won’t anything we do be swamped by the developing countries?

There’s nochance of major third-world countries agreeing to anything unless theWest, the cause of 80% of the problem to date, gives a lead.

• So what should we do in our own country?

Stop building new roads.Put all those billions into railways, buses, cycleways and walkways.Invest in energy conservation in transport, in industry and in thehome. Divert all those other billions of development money still goinginto the nuclear industry into wind, tidal, biomass, solar power,combined heat and power schemes (CHP) and hydrogen technology. Checkthe growth of aviation by taxing its fuel fairly. Stop building andexpanding airports.

• And what should we do internationally?

Join the international campaign to augment the Kyoto agreement,which does not go far enough, with a new and equitable agreementincluding both developed and developing countries. This has beenproposed by, among others, the Global Commons Institute, Friends Of theEarth, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, the CharteredInsurance Institute and numerous ministers of the environment. Such a European initiative will bring many countries on board, and can leave space for the US to join later.

• But surely people will never give up their cars?

Not with public transport in the shambolic state it is today. But a serious campaign to switch investment will yield results– as it has in many cities around the world. It needs a governmentprepared to stand up to the motor industry and fossil-fuel lobbies – asNew Labour said before they got into government. Only the Greens arehonest enough to admit that we have got to make major changes in ourway of life to stop climate change. If we don’t, our children face aterrible future.

Learn More

More Information:
Climate Change in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society

Related Sections in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:
Economy
Energy
Natural Resources
Pollution
Science and Technology
Transport