Clive Lewis MP: Climate Timeline

Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South.

We have identified 19 Parliamentary Votes Related to Climate since 2015 in which Clive Lewis could have voted.

Clive Lewis is rated Good for votes supporting action on climate. (Rating Methodology)

In favour of action on climate: 14
Against: 0
Did not vote: 5

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Clive Lewis's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Clive Lewis

01 Nov 2024: Tweet
RT @meadwaj: (We’ve got to move on from GND as how to do climate change politics, though. The fact that climate change is already here mean… [Source]
30 Oct 2024: Tweet
RT @newscientist: The Amazon is teetering on the edge of a tipping point that would see it become a net source of CO2 and accelerate climat… [Source]
30 Oct 2024: Tweet
This is the new normal. Till it gets worse. The climate crisis is the key reason OUR WATER infrastructure must be run in the best interests of all. Water run for PRIVATE PROFIT has failed. Support my Water Bill here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://actionnetwork.org/forms/add-your-name-to-the-water-bill?source=twitter& https://twitter.com/wxnb_/status/1851375012688658443 [Source]
30 Oct 2024: Tweet
This the new normal. Till it gets worse. The climate crisis is the key reason OUR WATER infrastructure must be run in the best interests of all. Water run for PRIVATE PROFIT has failed. Support my Water Bill here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://actionnetwork.org/forms/add-your-name-to-the-water-bill?source=twitter& https://twitter.com/wxnb_/status/1851375012688658443 [Source]
09 Oct 2024: Tweet
RT @ThierryAaron: "The urgency of mitigating climate change cannot change financial facts" - @thetimes Oh and which financial facts are… [Source]
06 Sep 2024: Tweet
I'm pleased to be speaking at this @FuelPovAction event at the TUC conference in Brighton. A redistributive energy system that promotes decarbonisation is at our fingertips. I look forward to making the case for #EnergyForAll. https://twitter.com/FuelPovAction/status/1831987761764614515 [Source]
05 Sep 2024: Tweet
Today, I could not have been more pleased to vote for the Great British Energy Bill. This is a landmark piece of legislation. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero @Ed_Miliband and his team deserve enormous credit for this bill, and how quickly they got to the… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1831767293098971601
04 Sep 2024: Tweet
From flooded British farms to the desertification of Sicily, the climate crisis requires careful water management. It's existential: water must be brought into public ownership. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1831376682839679110/video/1 [Source]
3 Sep 2024: Parliamentary Speech

One consequence of the situation in Norfolk is that there are regularly hundreds of hospital patients who are medically fit to leave but unable to be discharged. It is clear that our healthcare system is struggling to respond to today’s crisis, but it is also unprepared for the challenges of the future. East Anglia is the UK region most at risk from early climate impacts, and there is clear evidence of the link between climate breakdown and ill health. For example, from 2022 to 2023 the number of flood reports in Norfolk doubled, and stretches of Norwich are predicted to flood year after year. Victims of flooding in the UK are nine times more likely to experience long-term mental health issues, and flooding is linked to a greater instance of respiratory diseases because of dampness.

Full debate: Healthcare Provision: East of England
30 Aug 2024: Tweet
These two water companies both have the same problem. They've made it extremely clear that they're unfit to keep us safe from the climate crisis. If privatised water can't deal with a slightly wet summer, it certainly won't keep us safe from extreme weather. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1829457895802462701/photo/1 [Source]
29 Aug 2024: Tweet
Hats off to campaigners who challenged the licence and the movement which led to the law making it possible. Labour must now focus on a sustainable green transition and supporting those communities and workers affected by decarbonisation. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1829145031405650271/photo/1 [Source]
29 Aug 2024: Tweet
????Last chance to apply: 24 hours left!???? I'm working with @CompassOffice to hire a Campaigns Assistant to work inside and outside Parliament. If you're passionate about climate change and want to build a stronger democracy, this job could be for you ⬇️ https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
28 Aug 2024: Tweet
???? 48 hours left to apply! ???? I'm hiring a Campaigns Assistant with @CompassOffice. If you want to build democracy and fight the climate crisis, this is the job for you. Click the link to learn more. The deadline is Friday 30th August at 5pm. https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
25 Aug 2024: Tweet
????5 days left to apply! ???? I'm hiring a Campaigns Assistant with @CompassOffice. If you want to build a stronger democracy and fight the climate crisis, this new role might be for you ⬇️ https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
22 Aug 2024: Tweet
????JOB ALERT: I'm #hiring a Campaigns Assistant with @CompassOffice! If you're passionate about climate change and democracy, look no further than this new role ⬇️ Deadline to apply: Friday 30th August at 5pm⌛️ https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
20 Aug 2024: Tweet
RT @CompassOffice: Do you know someone who: ????Is passionate about political change? ????Wants to campaign for a just transition? ????️ Wants to… [Source]
19 Aug 2024: Tweet
The climate crisis is here, and more shareholder payouts from water companies won't save us. 70% of Sicily is at risk of desertification and most of the island's lakes are almost dry. This is a warning to invest in a climate-resilient water system before it's too late. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1825504746951561526/photo/1 [Source]
19 Aug 2024: Tweet
Do you want to work inside and outside Parliament to build democracy and fight the climate crisis? Look no further, I'm working with @CompassOffice to hire a Campaigns Assistant. Click the link to learn more, the deadline is Friday 30th August???????? https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
15 Aug 2024: Tweet
????JOB ALERT: I'm working with @CompassOffice to hire a new Campaigns Assistant. Do you want to work inside and outside Parliament to build democracy and fight the climate crisis? Look no further than this new role ⬇️ https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/CD83B731FF/ [Source]
01 Aug 2024: Tweet
This CEO accidentally makes the case for bringing water under public control. These companies prioritised giving billions to shareholders over investing in climate-resilient infrastructure. It's crystal clear: Privatised water cannot keep us safe during the climate crisis. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1818990374993498510/photo/1 [Source]
30 Jul 2024: Parliamentary Speech

I thank the Foreign Secretary and his team for the £500,000 committed to the Caribbean after the devastation on Grenada and Carriacou as a result of Hurricane Beryl, but can I press him and the team on the fact that the Caribbean is at the sharp end of the climate crisis? Will he tell the House what plans he has to advocate at COP29 for a replacement of the $100 billion climate finance deal?

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
30 Jul 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: The destruction caused by Hurricane Beryl proves the Caribbean is at the sharp end of the climate crisis. I asked the For… [Source]
30 Jul 2024: Tweet
The destruction caused by Hurricane Beryl proves the Caribbean is at the sharp end of the climate crisis. I asked the Foreign Secretary what plans he has to bring a new climate finance deal to COP29. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1818268057476678130/video/1 [Source]
29 Jul 2024: Tweet
The face of the climate crisis in 4K. Make no mistake: This will be on your doorstep. That's because fossil fuel CEOs are isolated from climate change, tucked away in air-conditioned compounds. It's time to stand up to those polluters and end fossil fuel extraction. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1817896758237675732 https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1817896758237675732/photo/1
28 Jul 2024: Tweet
Growth has to be sustainable, take into account ecological implications and ensure it benefits the broadest range of constituents. Not just the wealthy. If in decarbonising the economy we destroy our already depleted ecosystems, we’ve failed. [Source]
25 Jul 2024: Tweet
Written by scientists, the Climate and Nature Bill would lock into law our international obligations and restore the UK as a global climate leader. As a supporter of the #CANBill, I look forward to this government adopting a science-led approach to tackling the climate crisis. https://twitter.com/zerohour_uk/status/1816149517181272351 [Source]
23 Jul 2024: Parliamentary Speech

I am hoping, for colleagues’ sake, that I have to make this contribution to the King’s Speech debate only once; believe me, doing things twice is not what it is cracked up to be. Either way, it makes a wonderful change to be on the Government Benches to speak in a King’s Speech debate in which for once stability eclipses chaos, renewal surpasses decay and hope trumps despair. Let me tell my new colleagues that it is not usually like this, at least it has not been for the past nine or 10 years, maybe longer. Too often, we have been here making speeches that mourn the erosion of our democracy and our rights at work and that can only bemoan the continual and unceasing scapegoating of our communities, the destruction of our rivers, the undermining of our judicial system, the betrayal of international human rights and the deepening of a climate crisis. But not today, because this King’s Speech is a veritable cornucopia of progressive policies pregnant with the potential to unpick decades of drift and deterioration. I would not try to say that after a couple of pints.

I want to conclude with this observation. The true risk to this country is not the rivers of blood, as some would have us believe, but rather rivers of excrement and rivers running dry. In only a few decades’ time, my constituency might not have drinking water, because of a combination of the climate crisis and corporate corruption in the form of price gouging and criminal levels of under-investment. Immigration and asylum did not lead us here any more than membership of the EU did. Failing institutions, the erosion of democracy and economic failure brought us here. It is that our Government must fix, so let us get to it.

Full debate: Immigration and Home Affairs
22 Jul 2024: Tweet
The arrest of the #WholeTruthFive shows us that the climate crisis is a class issue. Here’s why. https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1814221975214043219/video/1 [Source]
22 Jul 2024: Tweet
Remember when Sunak made a speech dropping his climate commitments? Yeah, that didn't go well for him. Timidity in the face of the climate crisis only benefits fossil fuel companies. It's time for some courage. Let's stop oil extraction and start building climate-ready… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1815334401787502765 https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1815334401787502765/photo/1
19 Jul 2024: Tweet
The climate crisis is a class issue. We can't get away from that. In this speech outside Southwark Crown Court after the imprisonment of five peaceful environment defenders, I explain why. https://x.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1814221975214043219/video/1 [Source]
09 Jul 2024: Tweet
The climate crisis, the cost of living and international instability mean many of us are worried about the future. Here’s how a progressive Labour government can make a real difference ???????? https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1810664312014545059/video/1 [Source]
07 Jul 2024: Tweet
The authoritarian-right only have to win once for democratic rights to be demolished. If the exit polls in France are correct, they’ve averted such an outcome. Longer-term only by deepening democracy, fighting the climate crisis & redistributing wealth can we make it permanent [Source]
06 Jul 2024: Tweet
6/7 I will represent those who voted in hope of a government that stands firm against anyone trying to stop the action needed to avert the worst of human created climate change; for one which sees net zero as a challenge to be seized not something to hide from or wish away. [Source]
05 Jul 2024: Tweet
RT @Ed_Miliband: It is a privilege and honour to have been appointed as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. This govern… [Source]
10 Jun 2024: Tweet
5/ Climate breakdown means thousands of people’s homes could be flooded yearly, rendering them unliveable. This could happen in just a few years. Environmental regulators even warn we could run out of water in the summer by 2050. [Source]
10 Jun 2024: Tweet
4/ Priority issue: Climate and Environment. East Anglia is the UK region most at risk from early climate impacts. Climate breakdown has already arrived here. Between 2022-23 the number of flood reports in Norfolk doubled. In 2023, the Wensum River in Norwich burst its banks. [Source]
26 May 2024: Tweet
@marionmain3 @meadwaj The party that created the NHS, modern welfare state and climate change act? No, I don’t think so? :-) [Source]
25 May 2024: Tweet
I’m standing for re-election as the MP for Norwich South. If re-elected, I’ll continue fighting for: ???? A universal, high quality NHS ???? Tackling fuel poverty ????️ Deepening democracy in our politics & economy ???? A just response to the climate crisis https://www.clivelewis.org/volunteer-2024 [Source]
22 May 2024: Tweet
Climate change means we are seeing extreme weather patterns - from droughts to flooding. This demands careful water management and investment in adaptation. The private sector has prioritised profit & payouts, when we really need investment for present and future challenges. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1793217985278066979/photo/1 [Source]
21 May 2024: Tweet
The Pacific Island States are susceptible to some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis. 9 of these states are calling for the international community to back their Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. I have tabled Early Day Motion 743 in support of the Treaty. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1792957655540977784/photo/1 [Source]
21 May 2024: Tweet
The 16 water monopolies cannot be trusted to meet the challenge of climate change adaptation. For the benefit of people and planet, we need to ditch privatised water. Tell your MP to support bringing water under public ownership ⬇️ https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-mp-champion-clean-water/ [Source]
20 May 2024: Tweet
Sewage-dumping private companies can't be trusted to meet the challenge of adapting to the climate crisis. Since privatisation, water bills have soared by 40% and investment has fallen. Tell your MP: it's time to bring water under public control. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-mp-champion-clean-water/ [Source]
17 May 2024: Tweet
@NewAngliaEnergy @crisortunity We’ll be explaining how and why public ownership of water is the best option and how it can be done cost effectively. No one should be making profit from a natural monopoly as critical as water given the climate crisis. Everything should be reinvested for adaption. [Source]
15 May 2024: Tweet
Our human rights will be a bulwark against the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Is there a role for policymakers in ensuring the protection of these rights? That's what I asked a panel of experts at a @CommonsEAC session. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1790675658319843455/video/1 [Source]
15 May 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Our privatised water system cannot build the infrastructure we need to adapt to climate change. I asked a panel of expert… [Source]
14 May 2024: Tweet
Our privatised water system cannot build the infrastructure we need to adapt to climate change. I asked a panel of experts at today's @CommonsEAC session why our broken models of land and water ownership are rarely considered. Their silence was staggering. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1790424698703995255/video/1 [Source]
13 May 2024: Tweet
The country is crying out for real progressive change. 67% of Conservative voters want a four-day work week. That's because it improves mental health, supports the economy, and helps tackle the climate crisis. A no-brainer of a policy. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1790033497689596139/photo/1 [Source]
22 Apr 2024: Tweet
For a just transition, we need a science-led approach to our climate and nature legislation. That's why I have co-sponsored the Climate and Nature Bill. I'm proud to support a Bill that sets the UK on a path to a more nature-positive future. #CANBill #EarthDay https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1782356743084790064/photo/1 [Source]
17 Apr 2024: Tweet
Norwich Labour will: ???? Fight the Tory cost of living crisis. ????️ Make our streets safer and cleaner. ???? Fight for better services and the NHS. ???? Tackle the climate emergency. ???? Build homes for Norwich residents. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1780628577123209445/photo/1 [Source]
11 Apr 2024: Tweet
Our net zero targets are based on outsourcing our emissions to developing nations. Are we in danger of creating a two-tiered world? That's what I asked a panel of experts at a @CommonsEAC session. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1778487402845090217/video/1 [Source]
10 Apr 2024: Tweet
Last year, National Grid - privatised in 1990 - made more than £4,500,000,000 in profits. I think they can afford to decarbonise the energy grid without destroying our agriculture, livelihoods and pristine views. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1777969769481740431/video/1 [Source]
09 Apr 2024: Tweet
RT @PositiveMoneyUK: Brilliant to see @labourlewis connecting the dots between climate change and rising prices. The time for data-collect… [Source]
07 Apr 2024: Tweet
RT @meadwaj: Excellent question from @labourlewis. Climate change & the nature crisis are *already* impacting on the economy, in multiple w… [Source]
05 Apr 2024: Tweet
The climate crisis is driving the foundations of economic shocks. As a result, inflation and interest rates rise, worsening the cost of living crisis. I asked a panel of experts at a @CommonsEAC session what we can do to stop this cycle we're trapped in. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1776300698763714794/video/1 [Source]
05 Apr 2024: Tweet
Our democratic institutions have been captured and run in favour of a few private interests, in this case, the fossil fuel industry. The Charity Commission must ensure these interests do not influence the abuse of charity status to downplay the scale of the climate crisis. https://twitter.com/GoodLawProject/status/1776170218563252684 [Source]
24 Mar 2024: Tweet
Despite over a decade of Tory cuts, Norwich City Council is responding to the climate crisis and giving people cheaper energy bills. I spoke to Cllr Martin Peek about what he's doing to ensure Norwich remains a place we all want to live in. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1771824283612057749/video/1 [Source]
23 Mar 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: How are these council homes fighting the climate crisis? I spoke to the Labour Council candidate for Mancroft Stuart McCl… [Source]
22 Mar 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: How are these council homes fighting the climate crisis? I spoke to the Labour Council candidate for Mancroft Stuart McCl… [Source]
22 Mar 2024: Tweet
How are these council homes fighting the climate crisis? I spoke to the Labour Council candidate for Mancroft Stuart McClaren about the award-winning Goldsmith Street, here in Norwich. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1771220294956450090/video/1 [Source]
19 Mar 2024: Parliamentary Speech

According to the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, the Government’s current programme for investment to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will still see climate change damage to the UK increase from 1.1% of GDP to 3.3% by 2050 and 7.4% by the end of the century. To put it into context, that is the United Kingdom’s entire social care budget of around £25 billion. The Climate Change Committee has said that the current approach to adaptation

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
13 Mar 2024: Parliamentary Speech

Of course, in keeping with the creed of those on the Government Benches, the better off people are, the more this tax cut will pay out to them. For those on £20,000 a year or so, the cut is worth about £150 a year; for those on £50,000 and above, it is worth almost £750. But whether it is a tax cut of £150 or £750, this Bill does nothing to rebuild our shattered public services, nothing to bring down NHS waiting times, nothing to adapt this country to the approaching climate crisis, and nothing to fix our broken adult social care system. As the Resolution Foundation noted, public sector investment spending—a key driver of growth—is set to fall by 31% as a share of GDP between 2024 and 2029. That is a real-terms cut equivalent to £17 billion.

Full debate: National Insurance Contributions (Reduction in Rates) (No.2) Bill
04 Mar 2024: Tweet
Investing in a liveable planet will make homes and communities more pleasant places for all of us, reviving our economy in the process. Ahead of the Spring Budget, I've joined Parliamentarians in asking the Chancellor to scale up public investment to decarbonise the UK economy. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1764613367409328388/photo/1 [Source]
13 Feb 2024: Tweet
The majority of us want climate action and affordable energy bills. But our reliance on fossil fuels means that three-quarters of us are worried about the impact climate change will have on our bills. The climate and cost of living crises are inextricably linked. https://twitter.com/PositiveMoneyUK/status/1757334945926709391 [Source]
10 Feb 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Our millionaire prime minister pays the same tax rate as a teacher. The climate crisis is driven by the emissions of the… [Source]
10 Feb 2024: Tweet
Belief the economy & climate are separate - is an extinction level blunder From record low water levels in the Panama Canal, forcing shipping detours & costs to spike - to food price inflation caused by droughts in southern Europe The cost of living crisis IS the climate crisis https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1756295061195628807/photo/1 [Source]
10 Feb 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Our millionaire prime minister pays the same tax rate as a teacher. The climate crisis is driven by the emissions of the… [Source]
09 Feb 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Our millionaire prime minister pays the same tax rate as a teacher. The climate crisis is driven by the emissions of the… [Source]
09 Feb 2024: Tweet
Our millionaire prime minister pays the same tax rate as a teacher. The climate crisis is driven by the emissions of the wealthiest, not low and middle-income earners. For a scaled-up, just transition, the wealthy need to step up and pay more. Time for a wealth tax. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1756036023635632564/video/1 [Source]
02 Feb 2024: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: 13. This is why £28bn should only be the start of Labour's climate investment. Read my full artcile for the @NewStatesma… [Source]
02 Feb 2024: Tweet
13. This is why £28bn should only be the start of Labour's climate investment. Read my full artcile for the @NewStatesman https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/sustainability/climate/2024/02/28bn-labour-climate-investment-pledge [Source]
02 Feb 2024: Tweet
12. The time for caution and for adherence to a failed, 60-year-old economic orthodoxy, is well and truly behind us. Now Labour should be the party to never let a crisis go to waste. You don’t get bigger than the climate crisis. Labour’s finest hour could yet be ahead of it. [Source]
02 Feb 2024: Tweet
5. We are only at the start of an era of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty. Ending the age of fossil fuels, supporting people through the transition, and adapting to the impacts of climate breakdown are now the primary tasks of any government. [Source]
01 Feb 2024: Tweet
RT @labour_council: Councils can't retro-fit and decarbonise their existing council housing without significant central government grant. £… [Source]
31 Jan 2024: Tweet
Our democratic deficit is in full view. 77% of the public see climate change as a serious global threat, yet unelected Rishi Sunak is turning on the oil and gas taps. The climate crisis is a democratic crisis. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1752768512118882699/photo/1 [Source]
31 Jan 2024: Tweet
This shows the democratic deficit in full view. When 77% of the public thinks climate change is a serious global threat, the Tories and unelected Rishi Sunak are turning on the oil and gas taps. The climate crisis is a democratic crisis. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1752760622981296154/photo/1 [Source]
30 Jan 2024: Tweet
Access to clean water is vital to our existence. Private water companies have continued to pump raw sewage into our rivers, leaving us even more vulnerable to the climate crisis. Water must be brought back under democratic public control. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1679119739099004929/video/1 https://twitter.com/guardianeco/status/1752212435430445146 [Source]
29 Jan 2024: Tweet
The Government spends £10 billion a year supporting the fossil fuel industry, pushing us off an existential cliff edge. Should we instead invest a similar amount in sustainable energy technologies? That's what I asked the Director for Regulation and Economics at Octopus Energy. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1752017511078563935/video/1 [Source]
29 Jan 2024: Tweet
What impact is advertising having on our approach to climate change? @crisortunity, @AndrewSimms_uk and I will be discussing the role of advertising on climate action at the launch of "Badvertising" at the Book Hive, Norwich on February 29th. https://www.thebookhive.co.uk/event/badvertising-andrew-simms-and-leo-murray-with-clive-lewis/ [Source]
22 Jan 2024: Tweet
I pointed the now Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero to this report from @TyndallCentre by @KevinClimate and @dancalverley. https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/phaseout-pathways-for-fossil-fuel-production-within-paris-complia And this by @UCL_Energy: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/sites/bartlett_sustainable/files/uk_oil_and_gas_in_a_1.5_degree_world_final_0.pdf [Source]
19 Jan 2024: Tweet
The majority of us want climate action and affordable energy bills. Expanding oil and gas extraction only means more profits for the oil and gas industry. To tackle the climate crisis, we must ramp up investment in renewable energy and consign fossil fuels to the history books. https://twitter.com/guardiannews/status/1748213464542441538 [Source]
08 Jan 2024: Tweet
The Tories have got this wrong, Labour's Reasoned Amendment sums up why: This Bill: “is entirely incompatible with the UK’s international climate change commitments...a totally unnecessary piece of legislation which will do nothing to serve the UK’s national interest”. 9/9 [Source]
08 Jan 2024: Tweet
Another example is the Local Electricity Bill, which I co-sponsor. If this became law, it would unleash the power of communities to set up renewable energy schemes that could be owned and run by local people. 8/9 https://powerforpeople.org.uk/the-local-electricity-bill [Source]
08 Jan 2024: Tweet
As a proud co-sponsor of the Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill (Green New Deal Bill), we set out a blueprint for transforming our economy to put environmental sustainability and public wellbeing at the heart of our society. 7/9 https://greennewdealgroup.org/the-green-new-deal/ https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1744459966444916842/photo/1 [Source]
08 Jan 2024: Tweet
At our fingertips are ways to create an energy supply that works for people and planet. So too are ways to guarantee a just transition for the workers in the oil and gas industry. 5/9 [Source]
08 Jan 2024: Tweet
New oil and gas licenses will jeopardise a safe and healthy environment for people now and for generations to come. I have joined a cross-party group of MPs to urge the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero to withdraw the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1744305555345219845/photo/1 [Source]
14 Dec 2023: Tweet
The climate crisis is a function of democratic failure. To tackle the climate emergency, we must change our political system. Join @CompassOffice, @GNDRising and @friends_earth in calling for a change in our voting system to tackle the climate crisis. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/democratise-to-decarbonise?source=twitter& [Source]
11 Dec 2023: Tweet
RT @LossandDamage: 1/4. At #COP28, the pledges to the #LossAndDamage Fund total only $700m or just 0.2% of the $400 billion needed each yea… [Source]
10 Dec 2023: Tweet
RT @macrodosepod: What does the loss and damage fund really mean for poorer countries? #COP28 https://twitter.com/macrodosepod/status/1732394597584679049/video/1 [Source]
05 Dec 2023: Tweet
Given the climate crisis is a global problem that doesn’t stop at any border… you can see where such a warped logic could lead to a very dark place indeed. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1732153522831987197/photo/1 [Source]
01 Dec 2023: Tweet
A loss and damage fund is central to a successful climate transition. In this episode of Heirs of Enslavement, @LauraTrevelyan and I spoke with the architect of the COP 28 loss and damage fund, @AvinashPersau15. Listen to this week's episode here ⬇️ https://linktr.ee/heirsofenslavementpod [Source]
01 Dec 2023: Tweet
RT @LauraTrevelyan: The architect of the COP 28 climate loss and damage fund @AvinashPersau15 explains his vision for restructuring global… [Source]
01 Dec 2023: Tweet
RT @needtoknow_uk: Today Rishi Sunak will try to greenwash his image at the global climate talks but @_wearepossible's Hirra Khan Adeogun @… [Source]
30 Nov 2023: Tweet
RT @hol40900: ????️???? #Sunak, #Cameron, and #Charles fly in private jets to #COP28, preaching #climate action while their actions speak otherwi… [Source]
23 Nov 2023: Tweet
The majority of us want climate action and affordable energy bills. Low and middle-income households cannot afford to foot the bill for the green transition. I asked the CEO of the Climate Change Committee if he thinks the path to net zero requires a redistribution of wealth. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1727773114967195741/video/1 [Source]
20 Nov 2023: Tweet
It's the role of the Government to invest in all of us. Ahead of the Autumn Statement, my cross-party colleagues and I urge the Chancellor to invest in a Green New Deal to deliver the infrastructure we need for a just transition beyond fossil fuels. https://twitter.com/greennewdealgrp/status/1726518491841544343 [Source]
17 Nov 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Are you a campaigner looking to build support for deeper democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based… [Source]
17 Nov 2023: Tweet
Are you a campaigner looking to build support for deeper democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based economy? Apply for the Creative Campaigner role with me and @CompassOffice here: https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/0ABFBBCC7A/ The deadline to apply is Tuesday 21st November. [Source]
14 Nov 2023: Tweet
Are you a campaigner looking to build support for deeper democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based economy? Apply for the Creative Campaigner role with me and @CompassOffice here: https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/0ABFBBCC7A/ [Source]
10 Nov 2023: Tweet
Are you a campaigner who wants to work within and beyond parliament to build support for deeper democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based economy? Apply for the Creative Campaigner role with me and @CompassOffice here: https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/0ABFBBCC7A/ [Source]
30 Oct 2023: Tweet
Are you a campaigner who wants to work within and beyond parliament to build support for deeper democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based economy? Apply for the Creative Campaigner role with me and @CompassOffice here: https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/0ABFBBCC7A/ [Source]
26 Oct 2023: Tweet
RT @GoodLawProject: “Ordinary citizens who are taking peaceful action in protest at the Government’s failure to tackle climate change are b… [Source]
26 Oct 2023: Tweet
Are you are a campaigner who wants to work within and beyond Parliament to build power for greater democracy and a just transition to a post-carbon, wellbeing-based economy? Look no further than this role on a new initiative by me and @CompassOffice https://apply.workable.com/compass-14/j/0ABFBBCC7A/ [Source]
17 Oct 2023: Tweet
I’m delighted to have co-chaired the first session in our inquiry into racism and the climate emergency, alongside @natalieben. Co-facilitated by the APPG for the Green New Deal and @appg_race, this inquiry hopes to develop a more inclusive environmental policy in the UK. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1714330223930466718/photo/1 [Source]
07 Oct 2023: Tweet
RT @cebill_now: ???? If CLIMATE CHANGE & ECOLOGY isn’t voted through in Sunday’s priority ballot at #Labour conference—it won’t be debated—and… [Source]
06 Oct 2023: Tweet
???? Labour Conference #LPC23 delegates! ???? For the climate & ecological emergency to be debated in Liverpool it has to be voted through the priorities ballot. ????️ To help make this happen VOTE FOR 'Climate Change & Ecology' in the priorities ballot https://www.zerohour.uk/vote_climate_ecology/ [Source]
27 Sep 2023: Tweet
The escalating climate crisis goes hand in hand with a democratic deficit at the heart of the UK's political system. How else could Rishi Sunak confidently allow the Rosebank oil field to be green lit, despite the public harm it will cause. [Source]
22 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
21 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
21 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
21 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
21 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
21 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://t.co/… [Source]
20 Sep 2023: Tweet
Rishi Sunak's net zero U-turn isn't really about the environment. It's actually about wealth. Here's why???????? https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1704531569673703735/video/1 [Source]
19 Sep 2023: Parliamentary Speech

Second time lucky. The Minister may be surprised— [Laughter]— to hear the following words leave my lips, and I know I am: I agree with the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), in her claim that low and middle-income households cannot afford to pay for the transition to net zero. Where we differ is that I do not believe that we should let the planet burn, as she does. Instead, the wealthy must pay for the green transition. Will the Minister commit to income and wealth redistribution and finally give households and local authorities the ability to transition successfully?

Full debate: Area-based Home Retrofit Schemes
19 Sep 2023: Tweet
I agree with the former Prime Minister, Liz Truss. Low and middle-income households cannot afford to pay for the transition to net zero. Where we differ, is that I believe the wealthy should pay instead. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1704118756425752889/video/1 [Source]
05 Sep 2023: Tweet
One that seizes the opportunity to unite social and environmental goals by embedding decarbonisation in policies that restore public services, reduce regional disparities and combat rising inequality. The National Energy Guarantee is a shining example of this. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1698979266275274924/photo/1 [Source]
05 Sep 2023: Tweet
TODAY, MPs have an unmissable chance to fix our broken energy pricing system. We can tackle fuel poverty and the climate crisis at the same time if MPs back my National Energy Guarantee amendment to the Energy Bill. Here's what it is, and why it's a game-changer. Thread. [Source]
04 Sep 2023: Tweet
No one votes for climate crisis, for food insecurity or for desertification. The climate crisis is a function of democratic failure. I spoke to @KatyGlassborow and @BabitaTV for this @CUSP_uk podcast about why the climate crisis is a democratic crisis. https://twitter.com/KatyGlassborow/status/1698716867349610507/video/1 [Source]
01 Sep 2023: Tweet
We can take bolder climate action, linking social & environmental goals by embedding decarbonisation in policies that restore public services, reduce regional disparities and combat inequality. The National Energy Guarantee is a shining example of this. https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/sustainability/energy/2023/09/energy-pricing-system-national-guarantee [Source]
03 Aug 2023: Tweet
Happy to have signed this cross-party letter from @ClimateAPPG. https://twitter.com/CarolineLucas/status/1687115983948001280?s=20 [Source]
03 Aug 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Burn now, pay later. The Tories' climate strategy was never fit for purpose. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1450517009951862791/video/1 [Source]
02 Aug 2023: Tweet
Burn now, pay later. The Tories' climate strategy was never fit for purpose. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1450517009951862791/video/1 [Source]
28 Jul 2023: Tweet
RT @jburnmurdoch: NEW: don’t let the ULEZ chatter mislead you. The British public is much more supportive and united on Net Zero policies… [Source]
27 Jul 2023: Tweet
This is why a scaled up and equitable transition to net zero relies on energy sovereignty through public ownership. Private companies will always prioritise their shareholders over public interest. It’s in their DNA. https://twitter.com/georgedibb/status/1684448886759231488 [Source]
25 Jul 2023: Tweet
Those of us calling for a Green New Deal do so because we see holistic social & economic change as necessary for a just transition, and adaptation and mitigation at scale. That same transformatory change is needed for the very political institutions that got us into this mess. [Source]
25 Jul 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: 1/4 I agree with the PM. Net zero strategy must be proportional and pragmatic. But that proportionality and pragmatism d… [Source]
25 Jul 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: 1/4 I agree with the PM. Net zero strategy must be proportional and pragmatic. But that proportionality and pragmatism d… [Source]
25 Jul 2023: Tweet
4/4 This means: Free and comprehensive public transport, high quality social housing, well paid care jobs, a worker-led transition for the oil and gas industry. These are core components of a just transition. [Source]
25 Jul 2023: Tweet
1/4 I agree with the PM. Net zero strategy must be proportional and pragmatic. But that proportionality and pragmatism demands an urgent programme of wealth redistribution. It’s time for the biggest polluters - the wealthiest - to pay for a scaled up just transition. https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1683796509148557312/photo/1 [Source]
23 Jul 2023: Tweet
RT @GNDRising: The economy and the climate crisis are not separate issues. Choosing to ditch policies which would tackle poverty and the c… [Source]
21 Jul 2023: Tweet
A redistribution of wealth must be central to any successful climate transition. From ULEZ to heat-pumps, low & middle income earners cannot foot the bill for a Green New Deal. The climate crisis is driven by the emissions of the wealthiest. Time for them to do their bit. [Source]
12 Jul 2023: Tweet
Privatised water is catastrophically failing to invest in protecting us from the impacts of the climate crisis. Instead, it's siphoned off £72,000,000,000 of public money to shareholders. Water must be taken back under public control. https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1679119739099004929/video/1 [Source]
22 Jun 2023: Tweet
Spinning Out is about climate change, mental health and systems change. It’s the first book published by Charlie Hertzog Young, and is available in all good bookstores today. https://linktr.ee/charliehertzogyoung https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1671909114375467008/photo/1 [Source]
11 Jun 2023: Tweet
RT @MikeRobbins19: Good move by .@labourlewis. Climate change will change the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall, so more farmla… [Source]
11 Jun 2023: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Food inflation, partly driven by ‘greedflation’ aka profiteering, is also a function of the deepening #ClimateCrisis. Th… [Source]
20 May 2023: Tweet
30 years of under-investment; profiteering & shitty rivers and all taking place as the climate crisis & droughts are set to worsen. We need public ownership of our water, NOW Revealed: warning to ministers over privatised water kept secret since 2002 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/20/revealed-warning-to-ministers-over-privatised-water-kept-secret-since-2002?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other [Source]
27 Apr 2023: Tweet
The #climatecrisis is a clear example of the failure of political institutions to govern in the interests of the progressive majority It’s a democratic crisis writ large The fight for #PR must evolve to stop the planet wreckers whove an upper hand through our minority rule system [Source]
24 Apr 2023: Tweet
Key drivers of the climate crisis: EXHIBIT A: LVMH becomes first European company to reach a $500bn valuation thanks to booming demand among the rich https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/24/lvmh-becomes-first-european-company-to-reach-a-500bn-valuation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other [Source]
11 Mar 2023: Tweet
RT @AnthonyBarnett: “The climate crisis is as much a failure of democracy as it is of markets”. @labourlewis at the @Another_Europe Ukraine… [Source]
10 Mar 2023: Tweet
The greenest shoots of the economic transition demanded by the climate emergency are found in the transformative and locally-led initiatives we see up and down the UK. This local leadership should be taken as a national cause for hope. https://leftfootforward.org/2023/02/cross-party-mps-release-landmark-report-on-green-new-deal/ [Source]
8 Mar 2023: Parliamentary Speech

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He is making an impassioned speech. Does he agree that the case for former colonial powers paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people is particularly strong, given that the UK Government were making payments to compensate the descendants of enslavers—families and organisations—as recently as 2015? Reparations are the right and fair thing to do not only because of the legacy of slavery and because the wealth that countries such as ours extracted underdeveloped those societies, but because of our role in the climate crisis, which threatens the very future of the Caribbean.

It is potential that CARICOM—the Caribbean Community—and its 10-point plan for reparatory justice also recognises. Its reparations commission is working with initiatives such as Repair, set up by the entrepreneur Denis O’Brien. Their joint mission is for an EU and UK 25-year, multibillion-pound programme of reparation and repair and investment in the Caribbean, involving education, physical infrastructure, and science and technology, replicating the EU’s structural investment funding, which transformed the poorest countries and regions of the EU, including Ireland and Poland. The same can be done for the Caribbean. It can be given the tools to prosper, to make the jump to clean energy technologies, and to adapt to the climate crisis, by which it will be disproportionately affected. There have been centuries of carbon-intensive manufacturing, which the bodies of its people financed, but it receives no share of the bounty. The irony of the climate crisis is never lost on me—or on millions of other people around the planet.

Full debate: Financial Security and Reducing Inequality in the Caribbean: Government Role
08 Mar 2023: Tweet
Hi @RishiSunak are you listening to oil workers and their demands for a just transition? These workers have a plan to remove barriers preventing their move into renewables, protect job security and fair pay, and for investment in their communities. @PlatformLondon @FoEScot https://twitter.com/needtoknow_uk/status/1633436399226572802 [Source]
27 Feb 2023: Tweet
RT @CompassOffice: Excellent cross-party work on a Green New Deal from @labourlewis, @CarolineLucas and others. The climate crisis is too… [Source]
08 Feb 2023: Tweet
RT @UnlockDemocracy: Unanimity on this panel that #ProportionalRepresentation would greatly assist the battle against #ClimateChange We a… [Source]
19 Jan 2023: Tweet
Disappointing and I would add deadly too. The science is clear: biodiversity, decarbonisation & re-wilding have to be integral to all economic activity and not an afterthought or optional extra - however well meaning. https://twitter.com/CommonsEAC/status/1616055759816753155 [Source]
18 Jan 2023: Tweet
If you're 16-35 and worried about the climate crisis, rising inequality, and attacks on workers' rights - join the fight for a #GreenNewDeal. Young people are rising up with @GNDRising to demand a greener, fairer future. Sign up to their 2023 launch call to find out more. https://twitter.com/GNDRising/status/1604751890712973312 [Source]
09 Dec 2022: Tweet
Our strategic national lifelines are being systematically pillaged, leaving us vulnerable to the #climatecrisis 9 water companies paid out £65.9bn in dividends in the last 30yrs. They also took on debts of £54bn. Pollution and Poor performance now ‘the norm’ warns Ofwat https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1601260341526114305/photo/1 [Source]
24 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @JolyonMaugham: Absolutely bananas that we should be forced to subsidise from public funds those denying the impacts of climate change.… [Source]
20 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @openDemocracy: ????️OUT NOW????️ What do the cost-of-living crisis and climate breakdown have in common? They are both rooted in Empire In… [Source]
14 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @NorwichLabour: .@labourlewis was among those to speak at Saturday’s #COP27 rally in Norwich. ???? “There are a lot of people struggling t… [Source]
09 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @Global_Witness: The GFANZ alliance saw 100s of financial institutions pledge to reach #NetZero But a year on we've found that its mem… [Source]
09 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @CarbonBubble: @CarolineLucas Labour's Clive Lewis @labourlewis said while members of the net zero scrutiny group (NZSG) had "every righ… [Source]
08 Nov 2022: Tweet
RT @SiOldridge: This is quite shocking. Emissions projections out yesterday show the UK will: ????Overshoot our 2030 Paris agreement emission… [Source]
07 Nov 2022: Tweet
Cop27: Sunak: “We made promises to keep that goal [of 1.5C] within reach.”… which is why I’ve committed the UK to a 91% tax-break for new oil & gas exploration. Go figure. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/cop27-sunak-says-it-is-morally-right-for-uk-to-honour-climate-pledges?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other [Source]
27 Oct 2022: Tweet
Then next time the Tories tell you they’ve spent the last 12 years tackling the climate crisis - point them to these. https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1585715159666130944/photo/1 https://twitter.com/dpcarrington/status/1585589983724847104 [Source]
18 Oct 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: This Government is pissing on our heads and telling us it's raining. As I told the Minister for Climate Change, it's scie… [Source]
17 Oct 2022: Tweet
Don't take my word for it, just look at the science. I pointed the Minister for Climate Change to this report from @TyndallCentre by @KevinClimate @dancalverley https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/phaseout-pathways-for-fossil-fuel-production-within-pariscompliant-carbon-budgets(c7235a8e-e3b1-4f44-99de-c27958c03758).html And this by @UCL_Energy https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/sites/bartlett_sustainable/files/uk_oil_and_gas_in_a_1.5_degree_world_final_0.pdf [Source]
17 Oct 2022: Tweet
This Government is pissing on our heads and telling us it's raining. As I told the Minister for Climate Change, it's science versus Trussonomics, and green lighting more fossil fuel extraction is simply not compatible with serious action on the climate crisis. https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1582023939047374848/video/1 [Source]
12 Oct 2022: Tweet
RT @CommonsEAC: We are quickly approaching #COP27 How can we ensure commitments made by countries made last year at #COP26 are met? @COP2… [Source]
05 Oct 2022: Tweet
RT @BellRibeiroAddy: We have a legal & moral duty to refugees fleeing climate breakdown, violence & persecution – conditions which Britain… [Source]
25 Sep 2022: Tweet
“The climate crisis and rampant global and domestic wealth inequality, whilst obvious components of this age of crisis, are just symptoms of a deeper malaise – the breakdown of democracy and democratic institutions at a national and international level” #LabourConference2022 #PR https://twitter.com/TheHouseMag/status/1574046314006024193 [Source]
22 Sep 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: It’s why the govt should adopt the #GreenNewDeal immediately and ensure renewable energy, retrofitting and sustainability… [Source]
22 Sep 2022: Tweet
It’s why the govt should adopt the #GreenNewDeal immediately and ensure renewable energy, retrofitting and sustainability all key tenets of economic policy. [Source]
20 Sep 2022: Tweet
RT @BethWinterMP: The Tories need to invest urgently to keep people warm this winter & tackle climate crisis. We cannot keep kicking the c… [Source]
07 Sep 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Good to join @DunyaNews with @SamTarry to discuss the #PakistanFloods and how the #ClimateCrisis requires the UK to not on… [Source]
06 Sep 2022: Tweet
Good to join @DunyaNews with @SamTarry to discuss the #PakistanFloods and how the #ClimateCrisis requires the UK to not only help with the immediate disaster but to step up and show climate leadership. Not the destructive greenwashing it’s currently pursuing. https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1567196753119612929/photo/1 [Source]
06 Sep 2022: Tweet
RT @SiddiqiSyed: Nice to have the chance to catch up with @labourlewis to discuss the link between fossil fuels and climate change. #StandW… [Source]
26 Aug 2022: Tweet
@GwhizzAndy You’re right, it isn’t. But the climate catastrophe unfolding around us is a lot more expensive. [Source]
26 Aug 2022: Tweet
This is what a Liz truss supporter trying to argue anti renewable energy economics looks like. Textbook #Tragicomedy https://twitter.com/LanceForman/status/1563138942631038986 [Source]
26 Aug 2022: Tweet
The UK's own #GreenNewDeal legislation (formally known as the Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill) is already drafted. It is sitting there, waiting to be implemented. We have the solutions. What's needed now is political will. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-02/0172/210172.pdf [Source]
21 Aug 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: The climate crisis isn’t just economic ‘market failure’ it’s also a massive failure of democracy. People don’t vote for e… [Source]
20 Aug 2022: Tweet
The climate crisis isn’t just economic ‘market failure’ it’s also a massive failure of democracy. People don’t vote for existential crisis. But that’s what our failed democracy keeps on delivering. Time to ‘take back’ democratic control of our economic system. https://twitter.com/MakeVotesMatter/status/1560680113586737152 [Source]
17 Aug 2022: Tweet
England must reduce meat intake to avoid climate breakdown, says Govt’s food tsar https://t.co/Gs0nsabiGt [Source]
12 Aug 2022: Tweet
…against future environmental shocks. And to invest hugely, not only in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but in building in the kind of protections against extreme weather, from flood defences to home insulation, that are now tragically necessary.” @meadwaj [Source]
28 Jul 2022: Tweet
A roadmap for the #GreenNewDeal is set out in detail in the Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill, which had input from trade unions, civil society, and climate scientists. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-02/0172/210172.pdf The solutions are right there in plain sight, waiting to be acted on. [Source]
25 Jul 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: I think it’s a good start that we’ve pledged £28bn for climate investment. But to ensure billions of this don’t end up wit… [Source]
25 Jul 2022: Tweet
I think it’s a good start that we’ve pledged £28bn for climate investment. But to ensure billions of this don’t end up with a handful of execs & shareholders, we must plug those ‘leaks’ and ensure key sectors are publicly owned and any ‘profits’ reinvested in key secrtors [Source]
20 Jul 2022: Tweet
Given the recent #heatwave and #ClimateBreakdown being driven by your dept's policies - why are you running away from democratic scrutiny by pulling out of the @CommonsEAC enquiry today, without apology or explanation @KwasiKwarteng? Answers on a postacrd below, @Twitter https://twitter.com/CommonsEAC/status/1549719809817968640 [Source]
19 Jul 2022: Tweet
RT @SamTarry: London is *literally* burning ???? The #ClimateCrisis can no longer be ignored by sceptics. Inaction by successive Governments… [Source]
19 Jul 2022: Tweet
Now painfully clear the Govt’s ‘Net Zero’ strategy didn’t refer to carbon but rather the number of decarbonisation policies it would successfully implement. Zero. https://twitter.com/chappersmk/status/1549369296656240640 [Source]
16 Jul 2022: Tweet
RT @KarlMathiesen: The role of climate change? Unequivocal, according to scientists. “Climate change is driving this heatwave, just as it… [Source]
28 Jun 2022: Tweet
@LesleyJGrahame Signed, with thanks to @CarolineLucas for tabling, and fully behind a just transition for workers in the fossil fuel industry. [Source]
22 Jun 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: This is a call to action to everyone campaigning for action on the climate crisis and a just transition: Join a @RMTunio… [Source]
22 Jun 2022: Tweet
Our railways are a critical public service and key to fighting the climate crisis. Amongst many actions, the Govt should be: - Ending the failed privatisation experiment, and bringing railways into public ownership - strongly supported by the public - Expanding investment [Source]
22 Jun 2022: Tweet
This is a call to action to everyone campaigning for action on the climate crisis and a just transition: Join a @RMTunion picket line tomorrow if you can. This is our fight and your solidarity is needed. #RailStrikes [Source]
18 Jun 2022: Tweet
RT @XRebellionUK: The #ClimateCrisis is a cost of living crisis. As people struggle to choose between heating and eating, we know unless we… [Source]
11 Jun 2022: Tweet
RT @gndmediauk: @labourlewis @PEF_online “to decarbonise we have to democratise” someone put that on a t-shirt! [Source]
11 Jun 2022: Tweet
RT @gndmediauk: @labourlewis “ fighting climate change is now common sense…. That’s why the governments coming out with greenwash policy as… [Source]
01 Jun 2022: Tweet
“If we continue with business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, there is no adaptation that is possible. You just can’t,” We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis, warns leading scientist https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/01/we-cannot-adapt-our-way-out-of-climate-crisis-warns-leading-scientist?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other [Source]
23 May 2022: Parliamentary Speech

I would like to comment on some of the engagement tonight from Government Members, because it is quite instructive. It is like a one-sided equation. They want to make this issue about the disruption to individuals and the cost to business, and although that is one side of the equation, there is another side to it: the disruption that the climate crisis is bringing to people around the world already and to this country. One thing that the House may or may not know is that, between 2010 and 2019, it is estimated that 5 million people have already died from the effects of the climate crisis. I understand that Government Members want to talk about an individual in an ambulance, an individual who has been disrupted, but we should think about the global disruption and what is happening around the world. Some 800,000 of those people were in Europe. This is not just happening elsewhere—it is happening here and now.

I am not in denial about the importance of dealing with the climate emergency, but does the hon. Gentleman accept that those who are leading these so-called protests should be leading by example? Saying that they do not care about insulating homes, or insulating their own home, does not send a very good message from the top when they are trying to convince the nation to follow their lead.

That individual has made their comments, but I guess the question we have to ask is who are the criminals. Are the criminals those individuals who are trying to come together collectively to stand up against a Government who are failing them on the climate crisis, or against billion-pound corporations with pockets deep enough to buy influence in Parliament and across politics? Are the criminals those individuals who are trying to use the only apparatus that they have to stand up and speak up for what they feel impassioned about? I would argue that the real criminals are those who are wilfully pushing to extract more oil from our oilfields and who are pushing us off an existential cliff edge. I think that this country and the British people increasingly understand that those are the people who need to be held to account.

Now freedom is being mentioned again, and this time it is freedom from protest. That means freedom against the public’s right and ability to hold big business and the Government to account for the climate destruction that they are undertaking. Opposition Members know which side Conservative Members are on. Increasingly, so do the British public. You may wrap this up in the ability of law and order to hold back the unwashed masses, but actually they are the people who are fighting for all our freedoms, for our future and for a world without a climate crisis fuelled by your friends in the big corporations and the oil sector. That is the reality.

Full debate: Public Order Bill
18 May 2022: Parliamentary Speech

Growth is an illusion that is partly responsible for driving three of the key challenges we now face: rising inequality, the erosion of democracy and the climate crisis. We have had GDP growth, albeit sluggish, over the past 12 years. Hence, by our main metric of choice, our collective wellbeing should have increased, even if only incrementally. That is the logic of the message we tell our constituents, “You’ve never had it so good because the economy is growing.”

Full debate: Achieving Economic Growth
11 May 2022: Tweet
RT @PeoplesMomentum: NEW: Launch of Momentum’s Climate Justice Course ???????? The climate emergency is here, yet most of us aren't sure how to… [Source]
17 Mar 2022: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Poverty, inequality and the climate crisis are the biggest drivers of global insecurity. So how do we forge a new internat… [Source]
17 Mar 2022: Tweet
Full speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzYnbaP21Mo Research on military spending vs climate change finance by @CAATuk https://caat.org.uk/news/two-trillion-dollars-for-war/ Article quoted by @RJ_Reeve from @RethinkingSecu1: 'Building from Ukraine: From Solidarity to Systemic Change' http://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2022/03/11/ukraine-from-solidarity-to-systemic-change/ [Source]
17 Mar 2022: Tweet
Poverty, inequality and the climate crisis are the biggest drivers of global insecurity. So how do we forge a new international system based on "solidarity with a common humanity deserving of a common security" @RJ_Reeve https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1504414117804847108/video/1 [Source]
15 Mar 2022: Parliamentary Speech

In terms of increasing expenditure on defence, we must first ensure that what we already spend is spent properly and efficiently. I do not think we can say that about the Ministry of Defence’s procurement, which is known across Government to be ineffective and inefficient—I need only mention the Ajax armoured vehicle to make the point that billions have been misallocated and spent inefficiently and ineffectively. Before we start talking about spending more, let us not forget that we are one of the biggest spenders on armaments in the world, dwarfing Russia—we spend more than Russia every year—and that global spend on armaments is approaching $2.5 trillion, which is 20 times larger than what we have pledged to spend on the climate crisis, the biggest existential threat facing humanity. I understand that all eyes are on Ukraine and Putin now, but we must understand that poverty, inequality and the climate crisis are the biggest drivers of global insecurity, and, while spending money on weapons and warfare is right and appropriate, we must put that into the context of appropriate spending on other areas.

Full debate: Ukraine
11 Mar 2022: Tweet
Up. To. Their. Eyeballs. Tory peer attended Cop26 summit for Russia, UN list shows https://t.co/vcDrSeMFnZ [Source]
10 Mar 2022: Tweet
RT @UkraineSol: From 4pm TODAY, protest #Gazprom in #London! No to #Russia's #Oil + #Gas, no to #FossilFuels, yes to #RenewableEnergy! #U… [Source]
01 Mar 2022: Tweet
RT @uniofeastanglia: Scientists @TyndallCentre @ueaenv have played a major role in a new @IPCC_CH report out today. It shows #climatechange… [Source]
25 Feb 2022: Tweet
RT @WYeates: Government climate advisers say cut fossil fuels to lower energy bills https://t.co/EJgGuPp5Wt [Source]
21 Feb 2022: Parliamentary Speech

I rise to speak in support of new clauses 14, 15 and 11, which at their core support a just transition for North sea oil and gas workers by removing the barriers they face in transitioning into renewable energy, and ensuring that they can access the support and training needed. I may press new clause 14 to a vote if necessary.

Research published in 2020 by Friends of the Earth Scotland, Platform and Greenpeace shone a light on the experiences of offshore oil and gas workers—I will come to some of their comments in a minute—and revealed a high level of concern about employment, job security and working conditions. However, it also showed a significant appetite to be a part of the transition to a zero-carbon economy, with over 80% of those surveyed saying they would consider moving to a job outside the oil and gas industry and over half choosing to transition into renewables and offshore wind if they had the opportunity to retrain and were supported in doing so. New clauses 14 and 15 would help to realise that ambition, while ensuring that in achieving our climate goals we do not leave communities behind and repeat the mistakes of the past.

by moving to annual contracts for difference auctions, yet to genuinely realise this ambition, offshore workers must be supported to transition into renewables, not face multiple barriers to do that. This is a skilled workforce whose knowledge and experience are absolutely essential if we are to achieve the UK’s climate goals in a timely manner.

What would these amendments do? New clause 14 would require the Secretary of State to produce and implement a strategy to achieve the cross-sector recognition of core skills and training in the offshore energy sector, and to ensure that training standards bodies adopt a transferable skills and competency-based approach to training. Crucially, this strategy would apply to all workers whether they are directly employed or contract workers, and they would have to be consulted in its development. This amendment would enable oil and gas workers to access jobs in renewable energy. It would also mean that, while there are not sufficient jobs in renewable energy as capacity continues to be built up, workers are able to take contracts in both sectors and then move between them. It would prevent a skills drains as people leave the energy sector altogether due to difficulties with finding work, and the cost and time involved in maintaining training certificates.

New clause 15, which is complementary, would establish a retraining guarantee for oil and gas workers seeking to leave the sector, thereby supporting them in transitioning to green energy jobs. It would also ensure that they are able to access advice on suitable jobs based on their existing skillsets, as well as the funding and training needed to transition. Again, all oil and gas workers are eligible for the retraining guarantee, as well as those who have recently left the sector. This amendment would provide clear pathways for oil and gas workers into clean energy, meaning they are not left behind in transitioning to a zero-carbon economy. It would also be infinitely more affordable if accompanied by new clause 14, meaning that workers are not required to duplicate training courses. Amendment 11 would ensure that the new clauses are applicable to Scotland, which is of course essential to facilitate a just transition for workers in the North sea.

I hope that the Government look closely at these amendments and recognise that there is much more they need to do to genuinely support oil and gas workers and to make a just transition in this sector a reality.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for adding his name to this amendment, as a lead sponsor, and I think he has made a very important point. Coming off the back of COP26 and all the warm words we heard then, does he agree with me that for the Government, over the course of the next six months, simply to publish an energy sector skills strategy—we are not expecting them to go any further than that at this stage, but simply to show that they have a plan—is the very least that people listening to those warm words from the Prime Minister at COP26 would expect?

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I agree entirely. We can already see, before the ink is dry on the COP26 agreement, that the Government are back-tracking. We only have to look at history. Many Conservative Members will look at what happened in the 1980s with the demise of the mining industry and say, “Well, we were the first to ensure that we decarbonised our economy”, when actually this was a tragedy. If we look at what happened with deindustrialisation and what happened in the mining industry, we see that actually the whole reason for the necessity of the levelling-up agenda is that there was not a just transition. This is an opportunity for us to ensure that we do not make the same mistakes as we have in the past, and that we play our part in making sure that we get to net zero in a timely manner. I think that is what most people in this House and out in the country would want, and on that I shall finish.

Full debate: Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [Lords]
11 Feb 2022: Tweet
Here’s what GDP doesn’t tell you: - Climate change worsening - Mental health crisis deepening - NHS overwhelmed - Inequality soaring - Hunger is endemic We need to update how we measure our economy to include the health and wellbeing of people & planet. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60344573 [Source]
02 Feb 2022: Tweet
Another day, another lie from the PM and his Government. This one has some form though as the ink on the #COP26 agreement is still damp. @FoEScot: “The simple fact is that there is no such thing as a climate compatible oil and gas development.” #StopAllFields https://twitter.com/StopCambo/status/1488785488202895361 [Source]
27 Jan 2022: Tweet
RT @PeoplesMomentum: After @AlokSharma_RDG’s announcement on the UK’s priorities after #Cop26 we’ll be listening to: @COP26_Coalition org… [Source]
21 Jan 2022: Tweet
The ink on #COP26 isn't even dry and this Government is paving the way for oil exploration. Instead of deepening our fossil fuel addiction we should invest in renewables and home insulation, ensuring those on low to median incomes are first to benefit. https://www.reuters.com/article/amp/idINL8N2TZ5IF/ [Source]
20 Jan 2022: Tweet
3. Invest in decarbonisation, where a just transition on jobs and roll-out is central. That means ensuring the lions share of investment goes to those on median and low incomes and ensuring a fair jobs transition. @GNDRising https://www.gndrising.org/campaigns/back-the-gnd-bill/ [Source]
20 Jan 2022: Tweet
2. We backtrack on our already insufficient decarbonisation plans - as many Tories, including the Chancellor - and double down on new oil and gas. This would deepen our carbon addiction and make the inevitable carbon crash all the more devastating. https://www.cityam.com/treasury-considers-cutting-green-levy-to-ease-cost-of-living-crisis-for-uk-households/ [Source]
20 Jan 2022: Tweet
1. The current trajectory - we pay lip service to decarbonisation and watch as our energy infrastructure crumbles from lack of investment and millions struggle as global fossil fuel energy markets remain in turmoil. This is happening now. [Source]
12 Jan 2022: Parliamentary Speech

Afghanistan, as has been heard, is facing an escalating and multi-faceted humanitarian crisis. In response, the United Nations launched its largest ever single country appeal, in part because the crisis in Afghanistan embodies a new breed of 21st century international crisis, where the hazards of war collide with the hazards of climate change and a global viral outbreak. This has created a nightmarish feedback loop that punishes some of the world’s most vulnerable and destroys their country’s ability to cope. So far, the UK’s response has been woeful. It took five months for the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme to be put into place, while our aid commitment to Afghanistan in 2021 was lower than what was delivered in 2019.

In October, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon—the Minister of State for south and central Asia, the United Nations and the Commonwealth—attended the annual open debate on women, peace and security at the UN Security Council, where he made it clear that the rights of Afghan women need to be front and centre. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and many other Ministers discussed Afghanistan with world leaders in the margins of COP26. We all urge the need to address the acute humanitarian situation. We are continuing to work very closely with countries across the world and across the region.

Full debate: Afghanistan: Humanitarian Crisis
13 Dec 2021: Vote
Subsidy Control Bill — Schedule 1 - The subsidy control principles - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
11 Dec 2021: Tweet
Thoughts go out to all those affected by this tragedy. This is now happening at just 1.1C of warming. Post #COP26 we’re on target for 2.4C. What kind of devastation will that generate? At least 70 dead as tornadoes rip across central & southern US states https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/11/tornadoes-kentucky-missouri-arkansas-latest?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other [Source]
02 Dec 2021: Tweet
RT @LondonEconomic: @mikegalsworthy @labourlewis You can find the full episode, on the fallout from #COP26 and the Green New Deal with @lab… [Source]
1 Dec 2021: Parliamentary Speech

We know the oil of Cambo and the coal of Cumbria have to stay in the ground if we are to keep temperature rises at below 2.4°C. I say 2.4°C because that is the new reality after this year’s COP26. Will the COP President commit to stopping Cambo and the new coalmine in Cumbria, and end the climate hypocrisy that so undermined his presidency at COP26?

Full debate: Limiting Global Heating
01 Dec 2021: Tweet
RT @alexjarmitage: What the South African HIV/AIDS story can teach us about the Climate Crisis #WorldAIDSDay THREAD: /1 https://t.co/ET… [Source]
18 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @GlobalJusticeUK: The moment when @gastivists projected 'Net zero is not zero' onto the #COP26 venue and the venue itself projected 'go… [Source]
16 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @MonicaLennon7: If we are serious about averting climate catastrophe and accelerating a just transition to a green economy, Cambo cannot… [Source]
15 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: 5.If #Cop26 has taught us anything it’s that our democracies are woefully unprepared for the century ahead and the bold de… [Source]
15 Nov 2021: Tweet
5.If #Cop26 has taught us anything it’s that our democracies are woefully unprepared for the century ahead and the bold decisions we need to take. We can do better than this. [Source]
15 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: It’s the UK Govt’s climate hypocrisy that partially torpedoed the #COP26 negotiations. How can other countries trust your… [Source]
14 Nov 2021: Tweet
It’s the UK Govt’s climate hypocrisy that partially torpedoed the #COP26 negotiations. How can other countries trust your leadership of a conference like that when you’re opening new oil fields, new coal mines and cutting taxes on domestic flights back home? https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1458389839049629697 [Source]
13 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: You dont need to be a socialist to see the connection between the Tories, big business, the #climatecrisis & corruption. T… [Source]
12 Nov 2021: Tweet
You dont need to be a socialist to see the connection between the Tories, big business, the #climatecrisis & corruption. They dont represent the majority of us, rather those exploiting us & planet at an exponential rate. Theyll literally be the death of us. And all too often are https://twitter.com/carolinejmolloy/status/1459192822079406086 [Source]
12 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @GeorgeMonbiot: I'm on my way home from #COP26, full of frustration and fury after reading the draft declaration. The world's powerful g… [Source]
12 Nov 2021: Tweet
Let’s #StopTheBullshit and get organised for a #GreenNewDeal #COP26 https://t.co/ql41enk8Nl [Source]
11 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @BellRibeiroAddy: Debilitating debt repayments mean many of the most climate-vulnerable countries are confronting the climate emergency… [Source]
11 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Today @BorisJohnson will speak again at #COP26. Here’s why you can’t trust a word he says. https://t.co/jG9nUDHOo1 [Source]
11 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @chilledasad100: Honestly so fed up with the lies and spin from rich countries that I decided to rip up my speech about the #COP26 cover… [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @thejuicemedia: The Government™ has made an ad about Net Zero by 2050, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative. ✨ Feat. @GretaThu… [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @mark_lynas: The Paris Agreement is in peril, and we are almost out of time for 1.5 degrees. Please support @TheCVF's call for a Glasgow… [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
.@BorisJohnson lecturing world leaders at his #COP26 press conference, but until he stops being a climate hypocrite at home they won’t listen to him. Still can’t trust a word he says. We need a #GreenNewDeal now. https://x.com/pippacrerar/status/1458477603212431363?s=21 https://twitter.com/labourlewis/status/1458389839049629697 [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
Public transport is central to fighting climate change, yet 1000s of transport worker jobs are under threat. On transport day at COP26, I support @RMTunion’s calls for the Govt to ‘Cut carbon emissions not public transport jobs’. Read RMT’s new briefing at https://bit.ly/2XxFeQ5 https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1458422615186591751/photo/1 [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @RachaelMaskell: #COP26 should have kept the hope of 1.5'C but after watching this, it's clear that hope lies on the streets of our town… [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
Today @BorisJohnson will speak again at #COP26. Here’s why you can’t trust a word he says. https://t.co/jG9nUDHOo1 [Source]
10 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Great chat with @GeorgeMonbiot and @PaulJSweeney at #COP26. The bottom line: the wealthy are driving the climate & ecologi… [Source]
09 Nov 2021: Tweet
Great chat with @GeorgeMonbiot and @PaulJSweeney at #COP26. The bottom line: the wealthy are driving the climate & ecological crisis with their consumption. The best way to deal with the complexity of this issue isn’t a carbon tax but rather wealth taxes as stated in our #GND https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1458163097882046477/photo/1 [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @CompassOffice: Thanks to everyone who joined our session from #COP26 with @RapidTransition, @esthercuestasan and @labourlewis! We can'… [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
Me filming @PaulJSweeney watching @NadiaWhittomeMP smash it out about the fact the biggest delegation to #COP26 are 500 fossil fuel company delegates. The people destroying our planet will not have solutions. They’ll have #GreenWash What we need is #ClimateJustice https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1457754446092451848/photo/1 https://twitter.com/NadiaWhittomeMP/status/1457750596170158087 [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @MP_Divest: ????BREAKING: 130+ MPs demand their pension divests from climate-wrecking fossil fuels. As #COP26 hosts UK Parliamentarians mus… [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
Going live now from Glasgow for the second Our Time Is Now session hosted by @COP26_Coalition @WarOnWant #COP26 https://t.co/RjYVwHYyQm [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @PaulJSweeney: .@BorisJohnson talked a big game to COP26 but here’s how he’s stopping Scotland’s Green New Deal #COP26 https://t.co/UVgU… [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
Surely it’s not beyond the wit of our political leadership to understand #OwenPaterson, the #ClimateCrisis, PPE corruption, Tory hegemony and so much more is all linked by the thread ofa rotten democracy? Starmer abandons pledge to abolish House of Lords https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-house-of-lords-b1953101.html [Source]
08 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @CompassOffice: ????Tonight! Live from #COP26 with @RapidTransition and @GGNDAlliance Leading politicians @labourlewis, @paolavegar & @est… [Source]
07 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @BarryGardiner: As the Inter-Parliamentary Union begins its meeting this morning at #COP26 My piece in The Scotsman asks why the U.K. Ch… [Source]
07 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @foenorwich: Gt to see Clive Lewis MP, add his name to the petition calling on @NorfolkCC to declare a #ClimateEmergency & create an amb… [Source]
06 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @emmalhampton: The people’s flag is deepest red… and quite heavy. #COP26 #ClimateMarch https://t.co/UKlvuBCnyR [Source]
06 Nov 2021: Tweet
Norwich stepped up today. ????????????????????????#ClimateMarch #ClimateJusticeNow #COP26 #NorwichCity https://t.co/qqYWgBkEOf https://t.co/uTo7d4Mppy [Source]
06 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @NorwichLabour: Norwich Labour members, councillors and MP @labourlewis joined today’s Norwich #COP26 rally and march for climate justic… [Source]
06 Nov 2021: Tweet
“It's not 2030 or 2050. It's now.” @COP26_Coalition #GlobalDayofAction #COP26 https://t.co/tUunLlQjME [Source]
06 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @NorwichGND: Looking forward to seeing everyone at COP26 Global Day for Climate Justice! We’re meeting by the war memorial opp City Hall… [Source]
05 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @paulmasonnews: I think @GretaThunberg is totally correct to call COP26 already a failure... to blame? All major emitters, past and pres… [Source]
04 Nov 2021: Tweet
Want to know what planetary scale #Greenwash looks like? ‘We’ll tackle the climate crisis by ASKING the very financial institutions driving climate destruction to consider making some changes. Nothing mandatory mind. But we’ll suggest it’s worth a possible $130 trillion.’ #COP26 https://twitter.com/adribuller/status/1456219764540514312 [Source]
04 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @HarshaWalia: Largely unknown thing about #COP26 is that military is exempt from (already weak) climate commitments. Militarism is scar… [Source]
04 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @RapidTransition: EVENT: Democratise to Decarbonise: can a global alliance of progressive politicians force action? Join us,@CompassOff… [Source]
04 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @Sarahhart81: Imagine being this desperate to buy your guns #stoptheharm #COP26 [Source]
03 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @SamTarry: This generation of young people may be the first to die of climate change rather than old age. Rather than running scared fr… [Source]
03 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @labourassembly: The budget & their vacuous net-zero 2050 plans have shown that the Tories aren't taking the climate crisis seriously.… [Source]
02 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @LucyMusk13: When the poorest are asked to foot the bill, when the poorest are the ones hit hardest by climate change, damn right it’s p… [Source]
02 Nov 2021: Tweet
RT @NorwichGND: @CliveLewis on yesterday’s budget: ‘What message does he send the world by cutting air passenger duty while hosting COP 26.… [Source]
28 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @GreenRupertRead: In a climate emergency, days before hosting the most important climate conference ever, our ‘leaders’ slash airpasseng… [Source]
27 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @JoeBrindle_: As we should we teaching students about climate change, surely we should be doing this in schools that are net-zero says @… [Source]
21 Oct 2021: Parliamentary Speech

I will congratulate the Government on some of the work they have done, and continue to do, on moving towards rectifying our climate crisis. However, the analogy I would use it this: imagine we are all sat in a car heading off a cliff edge. What we actually need is a big, hard handbrake turn to avert that cliff edge. What we have at the moment are a Government who are gently taking their foot off the accelerator. Quite simply, that is not good enough. We need a big shove on the brakes: a big handbrake turn and a big skid to turn away from there. That is not happening. I am happy that they are taking their foot off the accelerator, but frankly, for where we are at the moment, that is simply not good enough. The depressing fact is that we are still having these debates. We are still talking about keeping the temperature down to 1.5° C, even though we know this is an existential threat. We are fiddling not just while Rome burns, but while the planet burns. For those of us who have known about this for 30 years or more, that is frankly ridiculous and future generations will never forgive us.

The 2021 IPCC report was a code red for humanity, but alas a green light for business as usual for this Government. As I said earlier this week, there are two problems with the Government’s net zero strategy: net and zero. Zero, because we know, as those who were quick enough to get on the internet and see what documents the Government had put up will have seen, that aviation emissions will be increasing well beyond 2035. We will be pumping out millions of tonnes into the atmosphere well beyond 2035 and beyond 2050. And net, because the negative emission technology we are relying on to suck the carbon out of the atmosphere does not exist at scale yet and shows no signs of doing so.

Let us be honest: I believe the net zero strategy is classic greenwash, big on soundbites, small on detail and absolutely limited on systemic change—the kind of systemic change that we need if we are to avert a climate crisis.

Full debate: COP26: Limiting Global Temperature Rises
21 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @Phil_Free_: “@labourlewis: There’s two problems with the gov’s net zero strategy: net & zero. Zero because it isn’t zero… & net because… [Source]
21 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @RCEastAnglia: Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, visited @StJohnsCath_Nrw for a discussion on climate change, COP26 and debt. ht… [Source]
21 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @CarolineLucas: I'm leading a debate in Parliament today about #COP26 & why #ClimateJustice means UK must go much further & faster to en… [Source]
21 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @chappersmk: Well well well... one of the lower profile documents released yesterday by gvt on its climate change strategy has been take… [Source]
20 Oct 2021: Tweet
Is the UK's green plan enough to halt climate change? According to the ⁦@BBCNews⁩ article below, the answer is a pretty resounding “NO”. Lots of #Greenwash , confusion, half-measures & financial black-holes. Time to back the #GNDBill https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58973826 [Source]
20 Oct 2021: Tweet
We can turn the climate crisis around, both here and internationally, with political leadership and vision. All of this is encapsulated in the #GNDBill (formally the Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill). Show your support for the bill: https://www.gndrising.org/campaigns/back-the-gnd-bill/ [Source]
20 Oct 2021: Tweet
It’s now clear that almost as dangerous as the climate crisis itself is the delay and greenwash which we are seeing from those who champion and protect the vested interests destroying out planet. #COP26 https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1450517009951862791 [Source]
20 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @labourlewis: Today in the House of Commons I told the Government that their net zero 2050 target is a burn now, pay later strategy. It'… [Source]
19 Oct 2021: Tweet
Today in the House of Commons I told the Government that their net zero 2050 target is a burn now, pay later strategy. It's simply not fit for purpose. https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1450517009951862791/video/1 [Source]
19 Oct 2021: Tweet
RT @lukasz_krebel: Among the flurry of govt #climate strategy announcements this week, let's start with the one that's been published first… [Source]
14 Jul 2021: Parliamentary Speech

With the climate crisis and the reality of an ageing population, there has never been a better time for the Government to centre the wellbeing of people and planet and the way in which public services and the economy are run. Sadly but unsurprisingly, the Bill fails in this context, so I will vote against it, because it does not fundamentally deal with the very real issues facing our healthcare system. It does not address the desert of NHS England providing oral and dental healthcare, which has made it impossible for my constituents to get an appointment. It does not guarantee fair pay and conditions for the key workers who have seen us through the pandemic, and it does not deal with the scandalous state of mental health- care. Patients in my constituency are in crisis, are discharged too early, or not admitted at all, while for a decade, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has failed to end the practice of sending patients out of area.

Full debate: Health and Care Bill
07 Jun 2021: Vote
Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill — New Clause 1 - Human Rights Abuses - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
26 May 2021: Vote
Environment Bill — New Clause 24 - Prohibition on burning of peat in upland areas - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
20 Apr 2021: Parliamentary Speech

What diplomatic steps his Department is taking ahead of COP26 to work with partners in the global south to tackle climate change. ( 914460 )

Full debate: Climate Change: International Co-operation and the Global South

A recent Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Behaviour Change report says the world’s wealthiest 1% need to emit 30 times less carbon than they currently do by 2030 if we are to have a fair transition to net zero and, according to the science, save the lives and livelihoods of millions, perhaps billions, of the world’s poorest from the worst effects of the climate emergency. Given the stakes and given the UK’s historical and disproportionate carbon emissions, will the Minister commit to ensuring that not a single penny from the public purse will be used to fund or subsidise the fossil fuel industry, including through development aid?

Full debate: Climate Change: International Co-operation and the Global South
4 Mar 2021: Parliamentary Speech

As we know, the context of the Budget yesterday was a debilitating global pandemic. It was also the last Budget before the UK hosts the COP26 climate conference. It was therefore arguably the most critical Budget since the second world war. I say “critical” because my friends, my family and my community matter to me, and having a viable future for them and myself matters to me. I saw so many of them struggling before the pandemic because of this Government, and now even more are struggling because of this Government.

What the people of this country needed from the Chancellor’s Budget yesterday was so much more than simply a reaction to the crisis at hand. What the people of this country needed was a strategy that would support all people and businesses struggling amid the pandemic, tackle the rising epidemic of inequality and debt, initiate a massive programme of decarbonisation, invest in local authorities and public services—the backbone of the successful part of the pandemic response—and rebuild our town and city centres as the vibrant hubs of sustainable communities and community activity. By those measures, the Chancellor’s Budget has failed on every single metric.

What I have seen in the pandemic is the best of the British people and the worst of this Conservative Government. In my constituency of Norwich South, I have seen care and compassion in the face of adversity, and I have seen the power of collective action in public services such as our NHS and schools, which stepped up to carry this country through extreme circumstances. In this Conservative Government, I have seen corruption and cronyism as well as indifference to growing inequality and climate change. That is ingrained in the detail of this Budget, which is going to punish the public and our public services, instead of taking the transformative action needed to support the livelihoods of all people and businesses, not just today but for generations to come.

This Budget will entrench inequality and it failed to tackle the climate crisis. It will be the job of those of us on this side of the House to remind the public in the years to come that these were the choices of this Government and this Chancellor.

Full debate: Income Tax (Charge)
24 Feb 2021: Parliamentary Speech

The UK’s credibility as COP president rests on demonstratable climate action at home, yet much like the Government’s failed pandemic response, which has left 130,000 people dead, the Government are acting too slowly, prioritising profit over public wellbeing. The Government’s boasts of our road building, and their plans of cutting £1 billion from the public rail infrastructure budget and allowing the Cumbria coalmine to go ahead are simply not compatible with achieving net zero. Will the Minister therefore admit that the Government’s stated ideological beliefs are incompatible with even their own meagre climate goals?

Full debate: Topical Questions
13 Jan 2021: Vote
Financial Services Bill — Schedule 2 - Prudential regulation of FCA investment firms - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
16 Nov 2020: Vote
Pension Schemes Bill [Lords] — Clause 124 - Climate change risk - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
12 Oct 2020: Vote
Agriculture Bill — After Clause 42 - Contribution of agriculture and associated land use to climate change targets - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: No
29 Sep 2020: Vote
United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — New Clause 6 - Economic development: climate and nature emergency impact statement - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
05 Feb 2020: Vote
Transport - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
15 Jan 2020: Parliamentary Speech

Later this year, the UK will host the COP26 gathering of nations still struggling to set up a robust framework to avoid climate breakdown. It is an opportunity for Britain to lead rather than just to host. Are there any measures in this Queen’s Speech to show how we will do this? No, of course there are not. Has anyone actually told the PM that one cannot just turn up to COP and go, “Bing, bang, boom, bong, phwoar, climate crisis!”? We have to stand on our record, and this Government do not have one. Members do not have to take my word for it. In its latest assessment, the Committee on Climate Change said that the UK is not

Ultimately, I fear that nothing we say in this place will change the mind of this Government. The entirety of this Government’s mandate has been founded on one thing, which is to get Brexit done—it pains me to say that. When we understand that this is a hard right political project, we will understand that this Government have no intention of facing up to the climate crisis. Brexit has always been about trade deals that do not give a damn about climate, inequality or the global south. It is about deregulation that lets corporations raping our planet do so with ever more impunity. That is what Brexit is actually about, and that is why the Queen’s Speech has failed even the most basic of tests.

Full debate: A Green Industrial Revolution
7 Jan 2020: Parliamentary Speech

For what have been described as a “post-truth” Government, here are two clear and simple facts: first, COP 26 is coming to the UK and, secondly, the eyes of the world will be on this Government’s climate crisis policies—or, rather, the appalling lack of them. As Australia burns, millions in African states face climate-driven famine and floods have swept the north of England, will this Government give a damn about this existential threat and act, not posture?

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
17 Oct 2019: Parliamentary Speech

It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) who I believe is one of the few Conservative Members who gets the scale of the challenge before us. Most Members of the House agree that something needs to be done, but the difference between many Conservative Members and Labour Members comes down to the speed, scale and ambition of that change. For example, in 2017 the Government’s manifesto stated that they would plant 11 million trees over five years in their efforts to challenge and tackle the climate crisis. Compare that with Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, which has just planted 350 million trees in 12 hours. That tells us everything we need to know about the scale of the Government’s ambition when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.

Labour Members are committed to nothing less than the total transformation of our economy—not just how it works, but for whom it works. So many of us who came into politics as Labour Members understand that the fight against the climate crisis is the fight against inequality. Why? Because we know that the poorest 50% of people in this country, and between countries, consume just 10% of the resources and emit just 10% of the carbon. The wealthiest 10% consume 50% of the resources and emit 50% of the carbon. It is therefore clear that the fight against climate change is also the fight against global and domestic inequality. The poor cannot give up what they do not have; they cannot give up carbon that they are not emitting. The people who can are those at the top—the top 10%; the top 1%. Those are the people who must give up their carbon and their use of resources.

My hon. Friend—I will call her that—the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) has said that the Queen’s Speech contained just six words about the environment, and there was not a single mention of the climate and ecological crisis facing our planet. That is hardly surprising, given this Government’s track record on the climate emergency. We have had a green light for fracking, and fossil fuel subsidies have been boosted by billions. Onshore wind has been scrapped and solar support axed. The green homes scheme has been eviscerated, and zero-carbon homes abandoned. The Green Bank has been sold, Swansea tidal lagoon stuffed, and Heathrow expansion approved. After 10 years of that, the Government tell us to trust them to tackle the climate crisis, but many Labour Members, and many members of the public, are extremely sceptical about their claims.

That is the challenge. Can the Government prove mastery not just of themselves but of their ability to tackle the climate crisis? It is time to get a grip.

Full debate: The Climate Emergency
15 Jul 2019: Parliamentary Speech

When it comes to climate change, there is a weight of evidence among the scientific community, and then there are the ideas put about by right-wing think tanks, newspapers and politicians. Similarly, when it comes to debates about the BBC, there are the allegations of bias advanced by many of those same right-wing interests, and then there are the findings of independent academic research. What does the social scientific evidence tell us about BBC impartiality? One consistent finding is that the BBC allows the press and senior politicians to set the agenda for its reporting. In the BBC’s Bridcut report of 2007, it acknowledged that impartiality should mean representing a range of views in society, not just the perceived political centre ground or the balance of opinion in Westminster.

Full debate: BBC
1 May 2019: Parliamentary Speech

So often as politicians we talk about what is politically possible, but with the climate crisis we need to move from the art of the politically possible to the science of what is necessary. When you are drowning, you do not ask yourself, “Ooh, what is politically possible?”; you do whatever it takes to survive. When the banks crashed in 2008, the political consensus in this place was to save them by any means necessary. According to the National Audit Office, the cost was £1.2 trillion, which meant 10 years of austerity, public service cuts and vast human suffering. But now, instead of a banking collapse, we face a climate and ecological collapse. We face catastrophes of biblical proportions: droughts, pestilence, famine, floods, wildfires, mass migration, political instability, war and terrorism. Global civilisation as we know it will be gone by the end of the century unless we act.

It was against that background—with the science of the climate crisis over here and Government policy over there—that Greta Thunberg, the youth strikers and Extinction Rebellion appeared. They arrived at the climate crisis debate like gatecrashers at a premature funeral, smashing through the window in a shower of glass to announce to a hushed congregation that the patient was still alive. Their message to this place is simple: “The time for incrementalism has passed. Act now, change now, or be swept away by those who will.”

This motion offers us a chance to fundamentally restructure our economy to deliver good, secure, well-paid jobs as we mobilise to decarbonise our economy on a grand scale. It offers us a chance to reinvigorate and strengthen our democracy, to massively reduce social and economic inequalities, and to protect and restore vital threatened habitats and carbon sinks. We must onshore the global financial system, bringing it back under democratic control.

Full debate: Environment and Climate Change
9 Apr 2019: Parliamentary Speech

Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to one of this country’s most successful publicly funded renewable energy programmes ever? I am of course talking about the last Labour Government’s export tariff, the feed-in tariff scheme, the biggest single democratisation of energy that the UK has ever seen, cutting 700,000 tonnes of carbon. This month, however, in an act of supreme national and international self-harm, the Government killed it off—kaput, finito, game over. In the real world, how can anyone, anywhere believe that this Government take their climate change obligations seriously?

Full debate: Renewable Energy: Public Funding
19 Mar 2019: Parliamentary Speech

From listening to the Government’s rhetoric on climate change, we could be forgiven for thinking that the school strikers are coming out in support of them; they are coming out against them, and if we cut through the greenwash we see the feed-in tariff axed, the solar energy sector decimated, and now the exports payments framework about to be ended and no replacement put in place. So let me ask this: will the Government ever announce a cut to the lavish support they dole out to their friends in the fossil fuel industry?

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
5 Mar 2019: Parliamentary Speech

I am sorry, but when it comes to funding the new technologies that really matter, this Government, and especially the Treasury, have been abysmal. The climate crisis is upon us now, but this Government’s reaction has been to axe carbon capture and storage funding; to cancel the Swansea lagoon, despite the fact that we were poised to be a world leader in tidal technology; and to slap innovative emerging storage technologies with business rates. At the same time, they are throwing billions into new tax breaks for oil and gas. Does the Chancellor agree that this Government are not facing the climate emergency but creating it?

Full debate: New Technologies
28 Feb 2019: Parliamentary Speech

I am speaking from the Back Benches, but I was appointed by the shadow Chancellor as the first ever shadow Minister for sustainable economics. The next Labour Government understand that we can no longer allow the Treasury’s short-termism and obsession with neo-classical economic orthodoxy to block the bold and radical fiscal, monetary and regulatory changes we need to deal with the climate crisis. Labour understands the scale of the challenge before us and the national and international purpose that we must set ourselves. It can be nothing less than a radical transformation of the way our economy works.

We know that the wealthiest 10% are responsible for more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions on our planet and in our country, and yet we also know that the poorest 50% are responsible for just 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is not about a false choice between consumption for the poorest and the environment. The poor cannot cut what they are not consuming. We need to see a contraction and a convergence. The poorest in the world and in this country will need to consume more, and the wealthiest—not just individuals, but corporations—will need to do more of their fair share. That is a challenge to the economic orthodoxy that those on the Conservative Benches champion.

That is the challenge before us, and we can see what happens when we do not ensure that social justice is at the heart of the changes we make. If we look at the gilets jaunes movement in France, we see that it happened because of the technocratic centrist fixes the Macron Government were trying to make. There were €40 billion of carbon taxes, yet only a small fraction of that was invested in public transport or for the poorest, and it fell disproportionately on those least able to pay, who are actually those consuming the least carbon. As a result, there was not one single tax on French aviation fuel. That is what caused the frustration and anger in France—inequality and a lack of justice at the heart of that economic policy.

How did we respond to climate change and the sustainability issues facing us in the UK? We decided to expand Heathrow—fantastic! I think the Heathrow issue is probably one of the most decisive splits we will see in politics in the coming years. It is the biggest single source of emissions in the UK, and the expansion has now given the green light to 300 million tonnes more of carbon being poured into our atmosphere. No Government who aspire to tackle the climate crisis and to keep temperature rises below 1.5°C would ever allow Heathrow to happen.

Let us quickly run through some of the failings of this Government. They have slashed solar subsidies, blocked onshore wind and prevented a closed-loop reuse and recycling sector. They have supported fracking, privatised the Green Investment Bank and supported Heathrow expansion. They have blocked mandatory climate risk-related reporting for the finance sector, they have never issued a green bond, and they have axed their own flagship energy efficiency policy. Those young people were not just calling for incremental change. They were calling not for climate change, but for system change.

Full debate: Net Zero Carbon Emissions: UK’s Progress
16 Jan 2019: Parliamentary Speech

Let me deal with an issue that the House and, in particular, the Government have failed to adequately address: the impending climate catastrophe and biodiversity loss. Above all else, given the timescales we are talking about, this is a calamity waiting to happen, but the Government are comprehensively failing on it. Time after time, we hear the greenwash from Conservative Members that they will do what it takes on the environment. They slashed solar subsidies, with 9,000 job losses; and fracking has been announced, put forward and is now actually happening, and not just in this country—they are also doing it in China, with taxpayers’ money. The climate science tells us that we need to leave that gas in the ground—80% of it—and that this cannot happen. In the words of that legend of Norwich, Delia Smith, I say to those on the Government Benches, “Let’s be ’avin’ you.” Let us have that general election. Let us have that vote. Support this motion.”

Full debate: No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government
15 Jan 2019: Parliamentary Speech

Let us consider the challenges that this country and our children will face in the coming century, such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, rampant inequality, threats to our democracy, and undreamed of technological changes. Surely it is nothing less than criminal to pursue policies that will cut the social and educational tools that people will need to navigate their way through those coming challenges.

Full debate: Local Government Funding
4 Dec 2018: Parliamentary Speech

The Opposition believe there are a number of fundamental flaws to the proposals. Transferable tax history is fiscally irresponsible. It expands the very tax breaks that put the Exchequer on the hook for exorbitant future decommissioning liabilities, which the Government have set aside no money to pay for. It creates perverse incentives, providing a windfall for companies exiting the North sea, and it fails to ensure a long-term commitment from incoming buyers on workers’ rights, capital investment and emissions reductions for the benefit of the UK. It also totally disregards the UK’s role in avoiding catastrophic climate change, and does nothing to address the urgent need for a just transition to a low-carbon economy.

Rather than assessing purely commercial viability, we should also assess how much remaining oil and gas in the UK can be exploited within the confines of the Paris climate agreement. It would therefore be helpful to know if and how the Government intend to assess the compatibility of TTH with that agreement. Do the Government have a view on how much of the UK’s remaining 7.5 million barrels of discovered undeveloped oil and gas resources can be equitably developed if we are to play our part in meeting the Paris goals?

Ultimately, this issue ties into the Government’s wider policy of maximum economic recovery, by which they have committed to extracting as much oil and gas as is commercially viable. Recent reforms, such as tax reduction and the decommissioning relief deed, as well as the proposal before us, are designed to make ageing marginal fields attractive to investment, even if that means reducing the per-barrel tax take or subsidising decommissioning costs to improve corporate returns. That approach is wholly inappropriate in a climate-constrained world, and it is entirely inconsistent with the Paris agreement, which requires not only a moratorium on new exploration, but the winding down of a substantial portion of current projects. In short, we need sustainable economic recovery, with Paris-compatible maximum-production targets, and a strategy to determine which combination of oil fields can most safely, efficiently and equitably exhaust the UK’s quota.

Full debate: Finance (No. 3) Bill (Fifth sitting)
6 Nov 2018: Parliamentary Speech

In his Budget speech, the Chancellor failed to make one single mention of climate change, yet by scrapping enhanced capital allowances for small and medium-sized enterprises, the Government have again cut vital support for energy efficiency and decarbonisation. Given the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate change report and given this Government’s support for fracking and their abysmal failure on tidal, onshore wind and solar, do the Conservatives realise that not only will they fail to meet their climate change targets, but they have breached their quota for hot air on this issue?

Full debate: Support for Businesses and Entrepreneurs
12 Sep 2017: Parliamentary Speech

19. Pope Francis warned yesterday that history will judge adversely politicians who do not act on climate change, so when will the Government heed his words and publish their long overdue report and fifth carbon budget emissions reduction plan? ( 900802 )

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
13 Mar 2017: Parliamentary Speech

Last June, the British people did not vote to apparently reclaim their sovereignty, laws and rights from Brussels only to see the Government auction them off to the highest bidder, behind closed doors. We are talking about our NHS, our Climate Change Act, and our employee rights. Nor did the British people vote to divide the Union, yet the Government’s hard Brexit is the key reason Nicola Sturgeon has given for requesting a second referendum. The First Minister wants the people of Scotland to have a choice, just as the Government now have a choice: do they want hard Brexit or do they want to retain the Union?

Full debate: Budget Resolutions
23 Jan 2017: Parliamentary Speech

I do agree with my right hon. Friend. An industrial strategy offers us the opportunity to align policies that reinforce each other. We have some of the world’s best researchers in energy storage, and one of the world’s most effective, efficient and innovative automotive sectors. We are one of the leaders in renewable energy through offshore wind. If we bring them together, one will reinforce the other to give us this chance to be a world leader in a set of technologies that, under any reasonable estimate, seems likely to be taken up around the world in the future.

If the Secretary of State is serious about building an industrial strategy that works for the whole country, and that encourages and maximises the opportunity for research and innovation, there must be space in it for the development of marine renewable energy—wave and tidal power. World-leading work on that is being done in my constituency at the European Marine Energy Centre. Will he visit and see for himself the way in which our island communities can help to build the strategy that he says he wants to create?

Full debate: Industrial Strategy Consultation
31 Oct 2016: Parliamentary Speech

I am delighted that my hon. Friend has mentioned that. One of the great opportunities in industrial strategy is to combine our world leadership in offshore wind renewable energy with our commanding position in the automotive sector, and to bring them together so that when it comes to electrical vehicles and battery storage, we can lead the world, which is what we intend to do.

They are indeed vital, and I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman makes that point. One of the advantages of having responsibilities for energy and climate change within the business and industrial strategy set of responsibilities is that these conversations can be joined up. The Minister for Climate Change and Industry and I share an interest in making sure that we maintain our leadership in green technology to the great advantage of our industrial future.

Full debate: Nissan: Sunderland
06 Sep 2016: Vote
Finance Bill — VAT on Installation of Energy Saving Materials - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
03 May 2016: Vote
Housing and Planning Bill — Neighbourhood right of appeal - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: No
23 Mar 2016: Parliamentary Speech

6. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Ministers of the Scottish Government on withdrawal of funding for the carbon capture and storage scheme at Peterhead. ( 904205 )

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

The Government’s own advisers on energy and climate change have warned that the cost of meeting our climate change targets could double without Peterhead and CCS. Given that the Government are having a good run on U-turns when it comes to saving the Chancellor, perhaps they would also like to make a U-turn when it comes to saving the planet—something that people feel is far more worth while.

Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions
14 Mar 2016: Vote
Energy Bill [Lords] — New Clause 8 — Decarbonisation target range - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
14 Mar 2016: Vote
Energy Bill [Lords] — New Clause 3 — Carbon capture and storage strategy for the energy industry - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
3 Feb 2016: Parliamentary Speech

One of the most cost-effective ways of meeting our climate change commitments and tackling fuel poverty is to increase energy efficiency, which has been mentioned so many times today, but it is being fundamentally undermined. Any serious attempt to tackle fuel poverty will require serious action to improve our housing stock. Poor-quality housing and fuel poverty are almost inseparable. The figures speak for themselves: 73% of households in fuel poverty live in properties with the lowest energy ratings—E, F or G. Only 2% live in properties with the highest energy ratings—A, B or C. The Government’s goal of ensuring a minimum energy-efficiency rating of band C by 2030 is woefully inadequate.

The Energy and Climate Change Committee is clear that the most cost-effective option for decarbonising our economy is set out in the carbon budgets. We have made it clear in the past few weeks that if we intend to decarbonise our economy, renewables will play a crucial part. Our problem with Government policy is that it is going backwards on renewables. Renewables will play a crucial part in ensuring that this country meets its climate change commitments and carbon budgets cost-effectively. We must have a balanced energy portfolio; the dash for gas and going all out for fracking is not the way forward. The Opposition are calling for a more balanced approach as the best way to achieve our commitments.

Between 2010 and 2013, only 70,000 fuel-poor households upgraded, leaving 95% still to be improved. As the hon. Member for St Ives said, at that rate the Department will miss its own target by 100 years. The Energy and Climate Change Committee estimates that investment of £1.2 billion to £1.8 billion per annum is needed to attain the Government’s fuel poverty strategy for England. The cheapest third of our approach to tackling our climate change commitments is the energy that we never use. Energy saved through efficiency is the cheapest. We talk about energy security, but energy that we never use is the securest. Funding for energy efficiency for the fuel-poor has been cut in real terms by a fifth, and the installation of energy efficiency measures has been cut by a third. As Members are aware, two new Government incentive schemes were introduced in 2013: the green deal and the energy company obligation. Two years later, the green deal has been stopped, and support for ECO is yet to be set beyond 2017 and no new funding is due to be announced until 2018.

Full debate: Fuel Poverty
2 Feb 2016: Parliamentary Speech

Throughout the debate on the Bill—in Committee, on Second Reading and in the other place—we have heard that Government decisions on energy policy, particularly with regard to renewables, have had a corrosive effect on investor confidence. It is appropriate to go through the list again, because it is quite despicable: the solar subsidy has been cut by 64%; the biomass subsidy has been cut; the biogas subsidy has been cut; the green deal has been scrapped; the renewables exemption from the climate change levy has been ended; and support for community renewable energy products has been slashed.

I will come back to that point. Let us have a look at the renewable energy country attractiveness index, which saw a major reshuffling of the 10 most attractive countries for renewable energy potential and growth. One of the biggest losers was the United Kingdom, which dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since the information was published back in 20013. It was specifically because

“a wave of policy announcements reducing or removing various forms of support for renewable energy projects has left investors and consumers baffled”.

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has seen the report from the Climate Action Network, which I understand is an umbrella group of dozens of NGOs involved in climate change, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, which recently ranked Britain the second-best country in the world for tackling global warning, right behind Denmark, and represents a very strong commitment for tackling climate change. I would be interested in his thoughts on that.

I will come back to that. I am informed that it relates to climate change commitments, not the renewables that this Government and the previous coalition Government have invested in, or as my list just demonstrated, have been cutting left, right and centre. But let me give you a counter-quote from Neil Woodford, head of Equity Income, one of the best performing funds. In December 2014, he said:

I will push on. I have a few more of those chocolate sweets I might give away. If successful, the Government will be going back on their own legislation and closing the renewables obligation for onshore wind a year earlier on 1 April 2016, a date that will not be lost on any hon. Members here. If successful, the Government will have adversely singled out the most cost-effective, low-carbon technology available to us, at a time when the Secretary of State herself admits that the UK is on track to miss its legally blinding EU obligation on renewable energy by an estimated 50 TWh hours, a shortfall of almost 25%.

Full debate: Energy BILL [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)

I do not buy this lack of market confidence. Paris and everything else point to a decarbonisation of energy generation. Investors are not going to have that policy pulled from under their feet. That should give plenty of market confidence to the private sector and others to invest. To have them continually drip-fed public money, irrespective of which purse it is taken from, has to stop. If the market pretends to be surprised by that, the Government would be surprised, because our policy was trailed very well months in advance of the election.

A report last week from Bloomberg New Energy Finance research forecast that these measures will see the UK lose at least 1 GW of renewable energy generation, enough to power 660,000 homes over the next five years. The figures suggest that after 2020 the renewables infrastructure will collapse to almost nothing because of a lack of investment.

“The Government’s decision to end prematurely financial support for onshore wind sends a chilling signal not just to the renewable energy industry, but to all investors right across the UK’s infrastructure sectors. It means this Government is quite prepared to pull the rug from under the feet of investors even when this country desperately needs to clean up the way we generate electricity at the lowest possible cost—which is onshore wind. People’s fuel bills will increase directly as a result of this Government’s actions. If Government was really serious about ending subsidy it should be working with industry to help us bring costs down, not slamming the door on the lowest cost option.”

As part of the Bill, the Government propose to close the renewables obligation to new onshore wind projects from April 2016, one year earlier than originally planned. As the only current mechanism that enables large-scale onshore wind to enter the power market, the proposed early closure of the RO poses a significant threat to the future of the onshore wind sector and the UK’s growing green manufacturing, export and investment potential, while increasing the difficulty and cost associated with achieving our decarbonisation targets.

Indeed, the Minister stated clearly her intent at the Energy and Climate Change Committee of 20 October 2015, when she pointed out that the primary purpose of the grace periods was ensuring,

Full debate: Energy BILL [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)
24 Nov 2015: Parliamentary Speech

In the Department of Energy and Climate Change annual statistics report, the number of households in fuel poverty in England was estimated in 2013 at 2.35 million, or—in other words—one in 10 homes where there was a choice between heating or eating. And it is not set to improve any time soon. In fact, by DECC’s own measure, the next set of figures is expected to show an increase in fuel-poor households. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the abject failure to get to grips with the plight of those in private sector rented accommodation. Compared with other housing sectors, the private rented sector has the highest proportion, at 9.1%, of the most energy inefficient homes—those in bands F and G.

Full debate: Fuel Poverty
26 Oct 2015: Vote
Finance Bill (Ways and Means) (Payment of Corporation Tax) — Chapter 5 — Supplementary provisions - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye
08 Sep 2015: Vote
Bill Presented — Devolution (London) Bill — Clause 45 — CCL: removal of exemption for electricity from renewable sources - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: No

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