The impacts of climate change have never been closer to home. This summer in the UK we experienced widespread drought, surgeries cancelled and schools closing due to extreme heat, farmers suffering through the worst harvest on record, nurses fainting while on shift, and family homes burning down in devastating wildfires. It’s no surprise that climate is back in the top 5 issues that voters are concerned about. For people that voted Labour at the last election, it’s in the top 3.
Our climate has changed. We are no longer talking about a faraway, distant threat: the climate emergency is on our doorstep right now. With El Nino threatening a winter of floods and another hot, dry summer ahead, it’s time for the government to start treating the climate as a frontline crisis. But what should that look like?
It’s not just about the energy system
Successive governments have made huge progress to decarbonise the UK’s power system. From being the first major economy to phase-out coal power, to the current rollout of renewables, there has been strong progress towards a fully clean energy system. The government needs to go further to break the link between gas and electricity prices, so that we can all benefit from the clean energy transition.
But transforming the energy system is just one part of the transition away from fossil fuels that we need to rapidly see. We need ambitious action from across government to electrify our homes, our public buildings and our transport system. Electrification doesn’t just mean lower carbon emissions. It also means lower energy bills and fuel costs, better air quality and vastly improved energy efficiency. The government’s National Wealth Fund should be used to accelerate the retrofit of schools, hospitals, universities and social housing, to bring down emissions and ensure we are adapting our homes and public spaces for a changing climate.
Nature recovery in every postcode
Nature underpins our very survival, and it is in stark decline. Without healthy soils, clean waterways, and thriving insect populations, our food production is under threat. Nature depleted landscapes also increase both the likelihood of flooding and the threat of wildfires.
One of the leading causes of biodiversity loss in the UK is the use of pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers in agriculture, which has intensified in recent decades. These chemicals disrupt entire ecosystems: degrading soil health, polluting rivers, and driving a decline in pollinators and wildlife.
Pesticides and synthetic fertilisers also burden farmers with unmanageable, unpredictable costs: the hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz pushed up the price of nitrogen fertiliser, at a time when farmers are struggling with the worst harvest on record. Many farmers are already leading the way: demonstrating that it is possible to reduce chemical inputs while maintaining productive, profitable farms. But without more support from government, broader change will not be financially feasible for many farmers who want to transition away from chemical inputs and move to more climate resilient, nature friendly farming methods.
People care deeply about the places where they live. We all want to see clean rivers, healthy seas, thriving wildlife, and accessible green spaces in the places we live and love. Polling has consistently found that nature matters to the public, no matter how you vote. More in Common research recently found that 82% of Britons say nature and wildlife are personally important to them; a sentiment shared across political divides.
Tax the climate polluters
While the impacts and costs of fossil fueled climate change are borne by people across the globe, oil and gas companies continue to reap in eye-watering profits. In July, Shell reported £7.4 billion in profit for the second quarter of 2026 alone. That’s enough to cover the annual energy bills of almost 4.5 million households in the UK.
The fossil fuel industry is knowingly fueling climate breakdown, pocketing billions in profits, and paying nothing towards climate damages. It is only fair that more robust oil and gas taxation is implemented to raise funds that can help households with the rising cost of living, strengthen our resilience against extreme weather and supercharge the transition to clean, affordable energy.
The government can and must go further to hold fossil fuel companies to account, not just through our own tax system, but by driving forward progressive global tax reform to ensure countries who are experiencing catastrophic climate impacts now, receive fair taxing rights to ensure polluters are made to pay for the damage they are causing.
Another world is possible
We are living in a climate changed world and every step we take now matters. The government has taken action already, from recently committing money to global forest protection, to announcing funding for global climate security. These measures are steps in the right direction but much more will be required in order to meet the moment we are in.
The United Nations this year said that the world is on track to temporarily exceed 1.5 degrees of global warming and the devastation wrought by warming the planet to this level will be felt most by communities in the Global South who have done the very least to cause the crisis. The climate can return to a safer level, but we must do all we can to make that happen. Every fraction of a degree of warming matters.
This is not time to despair, this is the time to grasp the opportunity. Tackling the climate emergency is about delivering hope for the future and building a better world that we all want to live in. It’s about breathing life into the cleaner industries of the future, and bringing fairer, more equitable economic growth to a wave of new areas. It’s about creating exciting, stable jobs for a generation of young people. Making our homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Bringing down our energy costs and giving local people a stake in community energy projects. Improving our health and the quality of our air, water and soil. Restoring our wild spaces and ensuring everyone, no matter where they live, has access to nature. That is a future worth fighting for.