The environment we live in is fragile, but there is no mystery about what is required to sustain it – and a Conservative government would take the steps we need to protect our nation’s natural heritage and limit damage to the world’s climate.

Worryingly, the government’s carbon emissions targets are consistently being missed (with over half of government departments increasing their emissions since the millennium) and we are only on course to meet our Kyoto commitments because 80 percent of those reductions occurred before Labour came to power.

A Conservative government will concentrate on real plans to achieve real results:

Our proposals include:

• Changing green taxes from a stealth tax to a replacement tax with every additional penny raised going into a fund to finance tax relief for families
• Changing the ineffectual Climate Change Levy which is a tax on energy use, not emissions, replacing it with a Carbon levy which would distinguish properly between high and low carbon production of energy
• Continuing to support the Emissions Reduction Target and introducing a California-style ‘Emissions Performance Standard’
• Allowing economically viable nuclear energy as part of a broad-based supply of low carbon energy, providing the taxpayer has no liability for running, decommissioning or waste costs
• Helping marine renewable energy to prosper, reversing the four-year failure of Labour’s Renewable Fund
• Strengthening the Marine and Coastal Access Bill and continuing to call for one all-encompassing marine planning system around the UK, with protecting biodiversity as the priority
• Improving flood defences, by acting on the independent review into the 2007 floods
• Introducing recycling incentives by encouraging councils to adopt a scheme where households are paid for recycling
• Scrapping Labour’s Bin Taxes which threaten the local environment through a surge in fly-tipping and backyard burning. Instead, we will make it easier for councils to introduce discounts and incentives for green behaviour.

The environment is such an important issue because it affects every one of us, locally as well as globally. Having lived in Warwick and Leamington for several years, I’m very appreciative of the beauty of this area and have been campaigning to protect the green spaces within our community that are a source of enjoyment to so many. As a local resident I feel a duty to preserve and respect our local environment.  And the Conservative Party feels a similar responsibility to protect Britain’s unique natural heritage, and to play our part in reducing the carbon emissions that are a threat to life itself.