Buxton MP wants High Peak to become the climate change capital of the UK

Future waves of migration are likely to be driven by climate change.

In my first ever question in Parliament, I highlighted the importance of restoring our peat moorlands in the High Peak and urged the Government to not just maintain environmental protections but to enhance them.

The UK has been leading from the front in efforts to tackle climate change.

It is a major achievement for the UK to be the first country to legislate a legally binding target to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050.

Emissions have already been cut by more than 40 per cent in the UK since 1990, while the economy has grown by two-thirds.

Last May, the UK went without running coal power generation for more than two weeks, which is the longest coal-free period in the UK since the 19th century.

As coal power generation has declined from 39 per cent of electricity in 2012 to 5 per cent in 2018, coal-free periods are becoming more regular and I hope reliance on coal power generation will be zero by 2025.

As a result of its International Climate Fund (ICF) support over the past eight years, the UK has reduced international greenhouse gas emissions by 16 million tonnes.

That is the equivalent of taking three million cars off the road for a year.

These achievements have been recognised by the international community, which is why the UK was nominated to host the COP26 UN climate talks this year.

Climate change is also a local issue that directly impacts our communities and way of life in the High Peak.

Last weekend, I took part in the New Mills community conversation held by Transition New Mills and the town council.

It was really encouraging to speak with people about their ideas on how to tackle climate change.

As an MP, I am feeding back these ideas to the Government in the run-up to COP26.

I am committed to supporting serious solutions to climate change.

Robert Largan is MP for High Peak.