The government has recently announced plans to axe the ‘export tariff’ for new solar installations – in what for many was a surprise move.

Twenty two MPs took part in a pitch-black photo shoot to illustrate this ‘daylight robbery’ and the threat to new solar homes next year.

Participants included Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis, Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead, Conservative MP David Amess, Green MP Caroline Lucas and SNP energy spokespeople Drew Hendry and Alan Brown.

Fair rates

The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings.

If these plans go through, householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects will be forced to effectively donate the excess clean electricity they generate to big energy companies for free.

The proposal runs counter to new EU laws which requires governments to ensure people are paid ‘at a fair market rate’ for the clean power they contribute to the grid.

A recent YouGov poll by campaign group 10:10 shows over 70 percent of people want to see the UK Government follow suit and continue to pay people fairly for the clean power they produce.

The campaigners, which include the Solar Trade Association, 10:10 Climate Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition, NFU, ECA and Community Energy England, are calling on the government for fair treatment of rooftop solar with a fair export tariff guaranteed after March 2019.

Clean energy

Max Wakefield lead campaigner at 10:10 said: “What the government proposes is daylight robbery – literally. Like a vampire this move threatens to suck the life out of the solar industry.

“We urge every one of our lawmakers to get behind our campaign for basic fair treatment for solar homes and communities.

“Action on climate change, solar jobs and clean power for ordinary households, businesses and community organisations is at stake.”

Sir David Amess MP added: “The solar industry has taken the UK from near zero to over a million installations in just 8 years. In doing so solar costs have come tumbling down – but it stands to reason even cheap energy still needs payment for the power it provides.

That’s why I’m backing this campaign to ensure fair treatment for new solar households and businesses. The clean energy and jobs of tomorrow are at stake”

Nonsensical barriers

Caroline Lucas MP said: “The British public love solar – nine out of ten people back it, and three out of every 5 would like to install solar panels themselves.

“The government’s bizarre plans to stop homes and businesses being paid for the clean power they produce will make this all but impossible.

“I’m calling on the energy minister Claire Perry to bring government policy in line with the public’s desire for clean energy at a fair price.”

Leonie Greene, new markets director at the Solar Trade Association added: “We are very grateful for the support these MPs have given.  It is extraordinary & very sad that we are having to fight for basic fair market treatment for people who want to install solar power in future.

“Solar is now very affordable so it is vital that Government doesn’t create new nonsensical barriers to people & communities all over the UK who want to go solar.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from 10:10. You can read more about their Daylight Robbery campaign here. 

A combination of growing awareness, an emerging movement for change and the prospect for political breakthrough all signal that the world is waking up to the scale of the threat.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

It is not only among activists and campaigners that there is an emerging sense of urgency, but also in the boardrooms of major consumer goods companies, multi-billion-dollar investment houses and among some governments.

All this not least because of the growing realisation that properly functioning natural systems are vital for people’s health, wealth and security.

Environmental restoration 

Here in the UK, public demand is also growing. For example, the political think tank Bright Blue published a report in the wake of the UK’s 2017 general election setting out how one reason the governing Conservative party did poorly among younger voters was its apparent lack of commitment to environmental causes.

These findings help explain the subsequent very welcome rise in profile of environmental issues in politics, laying the foundations for stronger cross-party consensus.

This shift in the public mood offers a rare opportunity to build a new movement for Nature, one that could create a bigger political and public space for action.

The information and research telling us what governments and companies need to do has been in existence for years. What’s been missing is the public demand for action, and the political will to deliver it.

But just as in 2008 there was a polit­ical moment that allowed the passage of the Climate Change Act, the public mood is shifting in favour of change.

Ambitious agenda

We need to grasp this moment to deliver strong new environmental laws at home, in the form of a new environment act requiring the recovery of Nature, alongside new farming policies that promote environmental restoration.

National leadership in key countries, including the UK, would help take forward proposals for a Global Deal for Nature and People, to be agreed in 2020.

This would be a commitment from heads of state when they meet at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, spelling out how it is no longer rational or acceptable to degrade Nature, and instead placing us on a path toward the restoration of the natural world.

Underpinning this would be a series of agreements forged in 2020 in a series of important summits, including new national targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

It would also involved a renewed ambition for the Paris Agreement on climate change, a strengthening of the environmental commitments in the Sustainable Development Goals, and a new agreement on the conservation of wildlife in the high seas.

Join together

This is an ambitious agenda, and needs to be. With sufficient public support and political will, we can halt the long-term decline of Nature and begin restoring the planet that sustains us.

Whether world leaders rise to the challenge is a matter of choice, including in individual countries, such as the UK, which if it wished could show the kind of leadership needed.

The scale of human impacts on the Earth is now utterly unsustainable.

The question now is not whether the world is under threat, but rather whether we will act in time. We need to join together in a movement to demand that the world take action and give us a Global Deal for Nature and People.

This Author

Tony Juniper is Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which is out now!

The government has recently announced plans to axe the ‘export tariff’ for new solar installations – in what for many was a surprise move.

Twenty two MPs took part in a pitch-black photo shoot to illustrate this ‘daylight robbery’ and the threat to new solar homes next year.

Participants included Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis, Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead, Conservative MP David Amess, Green MP Caroline Lucas and SNP energy spokespeople Drew Hendry and Alan Brown.

Fair rates

The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings.

If these plans go through, householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects will be forced to effectively donate the excess clean electricity they generate to big energy companies for free.

The proposal runs counter to new EU laws which requires governments to ensure people are paid ‘at a fair market rate’ for the clean power they contribute to the grid.

A recent YouGov poll by campaign group 10:10 shows over 70 percent of people want to see the UK Government follow suit and continue to pay people fairly for the clean power they produce.

The campaigners, which include the Solar Trade Association, 10:10 Climate Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition, NFU, ECA and Community Energy England, are calling on the government for fair treatment of rooftop solar with a fair export tariff guaranteed after March 2019.

Clean energy

Max Wakefield lead campaigner at 10:10 said: “What the government proposes is daylight robbery – literally. Like a vampire this move threatens to suck the life out of the solar industry.

“We urge every one of our lawmakers to get behind our campaign for basic fair treatment for solar homes and communities.

“Action on climate change, solar jobs and clean power for ordinary households, businesses and community organisations is at stake.”

Sir David Amess MP added: “The solar industry has taken the UK from near zero to over a million installations in just 8 years. In doing so solar costs have come tumbling down – but it stands to reason even cheap energy still needs payment for the power it provides.

That’s why I’m backing this campaign to ensure fair treatment for new solar households and businesses. The clean energy and jobs of tomorrow are at stake”

Nonsensical barriers

Caroline Lucas MP said: “The British public love solar – nine out of ten people back it, and three out of every 5 would like to install solar panels themselves.

“The government’s bizarre plans to stop homes and businesses being paid for the clean power they produce will make this all but impossible.

“I’m calling on the energy minister Claire Perry to bring government policy in line with the public’s desire for clean energy at a fair price.”

Leonie Greene, new markets director at the Solar Trade Association added: “We are very grateful for the support these MPs have given.  It is extraordinary & very sad that we are having to fight for basic fair market treatment for people who want to install solar power in future.

“Solar is now very affordable so it is vital that Government doesn’t create new nonsensical barriers to people & communities all over the UK who want to go solar.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from 10:10. You can read more about their Daylight Robbery campaign here. 

A combination of growing awareness, an emerging movement for change and the prospect for political breakthrough all signal that the world is waking up to the scale of the threat.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

It is not only among activists and campaigners that there is an emerging sense of urgency, but also in the boardrooms of major consumer goods companies, multi-billion-dollar investment houses and among some governments.

All this not least because of the growing realisation that properly functioning natural systems are vital for people’s health, wealth and security.

Environmental restoration 

Here in the UK, public demand is also growing. For example, the political think tank Bright Blue published a report in the wake of the UK’s 2017 general election setting out how one reason the governing Conservative party did poorly among younger voters was its apparent lack of commitment to environmental causes.

These findings help explain the subsequent very welcome rise in profile of environmental issues in politics, laying the foundations for stronger cross-party consensus.

This shift in the public mood offers a rare opportunity to build a new movement for Nature, one that could create a bigger political and public space for action.

The information and research telling us what governments and companies need to do has been in existence for years. What’s been missing is the public demand for action, and the political will to deliver it.

But just as in 2008 there was a polit­ical moment that allowed the passage of the Climate Change Act, the public mood is shifting in favour of change.

Ambitious agenda

We need to grasp this moment to deliver strong new environmental laws at home, in the form of a new environment act requiring the recovery of Nature, alongside new farming policies that promote environmental restoration.

National leadership in key countries, including the UK, would help take forward proposals for a Global Deal for Nature and People, to be agreed in 2020.

This would be a commitment from heads of state when they meet at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, spelling out how it is no longer rational or acceptable to degrade Nature, and instead placing us on a path toward the restoration of the natural world.

Underpinning this would be a series of agreements forged in 2020 in a series of important summits, including new national targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

It would also involved a renewed ambition for the Paris Agreement on climate change, a strengthening of the environmental commitments in the Sustainable Development Goals, and a new agreement on the conservation of wildlife in the high seas.

Join together

This is an ambitious agenda, and needs to be. With sufficient public support and political will, we can halt the long-term decline of Nature and begin restoring the planet that sustains us.

Whether world leaders rise to the challenge is a matter of choice, including in individual countries, such as the UK, which if it wished could show the kind of leadership needed.

The scale of human impacts on the Earth is now utterly unsustainable.

The question now is not whether the world is under threat, but rather whether we will act in time. We need to join together in a movement to demand that the world take action and give us a Global Deal for Nature and People.

This Author

Tony Juniper is Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which is out now!

The government has recently announced plans to axe the ‘export tariff’ for new solar installations – in what for many was a surprise move.

Twenty two MPs took part in a pitch-black photo shoot to illustrate this ‘daylight robbery’ and the threat to new solar homes next year.

Participants included Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis, Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead, Conservative MP David Amess, Green MP Caroline Lucas and SNP energy spokespeople Drew Hendry and Alan Brown.

Fair rates

The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings.

If these plans go through, householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects will be forced to effectively donate the excess clean electricity they generate to big energy companies for free.

The proposal runs counter to new EU laws which requires governments to ensure people are paid ‘at a fair market rate’ for the clean power they contribute to the grid.

A recent YouGov poll by campaign group 10:10 shows over 70 percent of people want to see the UK Government follow suit and continue to pay people fairly for the clean power they produce.

The campaigners, which include the Solar Trade Association, 10:10 Climate Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition, NFU, ECA and Community Energy England, are calling on the government for fair treatment of rooftop solar with a fair export tariff guaranteed after March 2019.

Clean energy

Max Wakefield lead campaigner at 10:10 said: “What the government proposes is daylight robbery – literally. Like a vampire this move threatens to suck the life out of the solar industry.

“We urge every one of our lawmakers to get behind our campaign for basic fair treatment for solar homes and communities.

“Action on climate change, solar jobs and clean power for ordinary households, businesses and community organisations is at stake.”

Sir David Amess MP added: “The solar industry has taken the UK from near zero to over a million installations in just 8 years. In doing so solar costs have come tumbling down – but it stands to reason even cheap energy still needs payment for the power it provides.

That’s why I’m backing this campaign to ensure fair treatment for new solar households and businesses. The clean energy and jobs of tomorrow are at stake”

Nonsensical barriers

Caroline Lucas MP said: “The British public love solar – nine out of ten people back it, and three out of every 5 would like to install solar panels themselves.

“The government’s bizarre plans to stop homes and businesses being paid for the clean power they produce will make this all but impossible.

“I’m calling on the energy minister Claire Perry to bring government policy in line with the public’s desire for clean energy at a fair price.”

Leonie Greene, new markets director at the Solar Trade Association added: “We are very grateful for the support these MPs have given.  It is extraordinary & very sad that we are having to fight for basic fair market treatment for people who want to install solar power in future.

“Solar is now very affordable so it is vital that Government doesn’t create new nonsensical barriers to people & communities all over the UK who want to go solar.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from 10:10. You can read more about their Daylight Robbery campaign here. 

A combination of growing awareness, an emerging movement for change and the prospect for political breakthrough all signal that the world is waking up to the scale of the threat.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

It is not only among activists and campaigners that there is an emerging sense of urgency, but also in the boardrooms of major consumer goods companies, multi-billion-dollar investment houses and among some governments.

All this not least because of the growing realisation that properly functioning natural systems are vital for people’s health, wealth and security.

Environmental restoration 

Here in the UK, public demand is also growing. For example, the political think tank Bright Blue published a report in the wake of the UK’s 2017 general election setting out how one reason the governing Conservative party did poorly among younger voters was its apparent lack of commitment to environmental causes.

These findings help explain the subsequent very welcome rise in profile of environmental issues in politics, laying the foundations for stronger cross-party consensus.

This shift in the public mood offers a rare opportunity to build a new movement for Nature, one that could create a bigger political and public space for action.

The information and research telling us what governments and companies need to do has been in existence for years. What’s been missing is the public demand for action, and the political will to deliver it.

But just as in 2008 there was a polit­ical moment that allowed the passage of the Climate Change Act, the public mood is shifting in favour of change.

Ambitious agenda

We need to grasp this moment to deliver strong new environmental laws at home, in the form of a new environment act requiring the recovery of Nature, alongside new farming policies that promote environmental restoration.

National leadership in key countries, including the UK, would help take forward proposals for a Global Deal for Nature and People, to be agreed in 2020.

This would be a commitment from heads of state when they meet at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, spelling out how it is no longer rational or acceptable to degrade Nature, and instead placing us on a path toward the restoration of the natural world.

Underpinning this would be a series of agreements forged in 2020 in a series of important summits, including new national targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

It would also involved a renewed ambition for the Paris Agreement on climate change, a strengthening of the environmental commitments in the Sustainable Development Goals, and a new agreement on the conservation of wildlife in the high seas.

Join together

This is an ambitious agenda, and needs to be. With sufficient public support and political will, we can halt the long-term decline of Nature and begin restoring the planet that sustains us.

Whether world leaders rise to the challenge is a matter of choice, including in individual countries, such as the UK, which if it wished could show the kind of leadership needed.

The scale of human impacts on the Earth is now utterly unsustainable.

The question now is not whether the world is under threat, but rather whether we will act in time. We need to join together in a movement to demand that the world take action and give us a Global Deal for Nature and People.

This Author

Tony Juniper is Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which is out now!

The government has recently announced plans to axe the ‘export tariff’ for new solar installations – in what for many was a surprise move.

Twenty two MPs took part in a pitch-black photo shoot to illustrate this ‘daylight robbery’ and the threat to new solar homes next year.

Participants included Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis, Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead, Conservative MP David Amess, Green MP Caroline Lucas and SNP energy spokespeople Drew Hendry and Alan Brown.

Fair rates

The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings.

If these plans go through, householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects will be forced to effectively donate the excess clean electricity they generate to big energy companies for free.

The proposal runs counter to new EU laws which requires governments to ensure people are paid ‘at a fair market rate’ for the clean power they contribute to the grid.

A recent YouGov poll by campaign group 10:10 shows over 70 percent of people want to see the UK Government follow suit and continue to pay people fairly for the clean power they produce.

The campaigners, which include the Solar Trade Association, 10:10 Climate Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition, NFU, ECA and Community Energy England, are calling on the government for fair treatment of rooftop solar with a fair export tariff guaranteed after March 2019.

Clean energy

Max Wakefield lead campaigner at 10:10 said: “What the government proposes is daylight robbery – literally. Like a vampire this move threatens to suck the life out of the solar industry.

“We urge every one of our lawmakers to get behind our campaign for basic fair treatment for solar homes and communities.

“Action on climate change, solar jobs and clean power for ordinary households, businesses and community organisations is at stake.”

Sir David Amess MP added: “The solar industry has taken the UK from near zero to over a million installations in just 8 years. In doing so solar costs have come tumbling down – but it stands to reason even cheap energy still needs payment for the power it provides.

That’s why I’m backing this campaign to ensure fair treatment for new solar households and businesses. The clean energy and jobs of tomorrow are at stake”

Nonsensical barriers

Caroline Lucas MP said: “The British public love solar – nine out of ten people back it, and three out of every 5 would like to install solar panels themselves.

“The government’s bizarre plans to stop homes and businesses being paid for the clean power they produce will make this all but impossible.

“I’m calling on the energy minister Claire Perry to bring government policy in line with the public’s desire for clean energy at a fair price.”

Leonie Greene, new markets director at the Solar Trade Association added: “We are very grateful for the support these MPs have given.  It is extraordinary & very sad that we are having to fight for basic fair market treatment for people who want to install solar power in future.

“Solar is now very affordable so it is vital that Government doesn’t create new nonsensical barriers to people & communities all over the UK who want to go solar.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from 10:10. You can read more about their Daylight Robbery campaign here. 

A combination of growing awareness, an emerging movement for change and the prospect for political breakthrough all signal that the world is waking up to the scale of the threat.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

It is not only among activists and campaigners that there is an emerging sense of urgency, but also in the boardrooms of major consumer goods companies, multi-billion-dollar investment houses and among some governments.

All this not least because of the growing realisation that properly functioning natural systems are vital for people’s health, wealth and security.

Environmental restoration 

Here in the UK, public demand is also growing. For example, the political think tank Bright Blue published a report in the wake of the UK’s 2017 general election setting out how one reason the governing Conservative party did poorly among younger voters was its apparent lack of commitment to environmental causes.

These findings help explain the subsequent very welcome rise in profile of environmental issues in politics, laying the foundations for stronger cross-party consensus.

This shift in the public mood offers a rare opportunity to build a new movement for Nature, one that could create a bigger political and public space for action.

The information and research telling us what governments and companies need to do has been in existence for years. What’s been missing is the public demand for action, and the political will to deliver it.

But just as in 2008 there was a polit­ical moment that allowed the passage of the Climate Change Act, the public mood is shifting in favour of change.

Ambitious agenda

We need to grasp this moment to deliver strong new environmental laws at home, in the form of a new environment act requiring the recovery of Nature, alongside new farming policies that promote environmental restoration.

National leadership in key countries, including the UK, would help take forward proposals for a Global Deal for Nature and People, to be agreed in 2020.

This would be a commitment from heads of state when they meet at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, spelling out how it is no longer rational or acceptable to degrade Nature, and instead placing us on a path toward the restoration of the natural world.

Underpinning this would be a series of agreements forged in 2020 in a series of important summits, including new national targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

It would also involved a renewed ambition for the Paris Agreement on climate change, a strengthening of the environmental commitments in the Sustainable Development Goals, and a new agreement on the conservation of wildlife in the high seas.

Join together

This is an ambitious agenda, and needs to be. With sufficient public support and political will, we can halt the long-term decline of Nature and begin restoring the planet that sustains us.

Whether world leaders rise to the challenge is a matter of choice, including in individual countries, such as the UK, which if it wished could show the kind of leadership needed.

The scale of human impacts on the Earth is now utterly unsustainable.

The question now is not whether the world is under threat, but rather whether we will act in time. We need to join together in a movement to demand that the world take action and give us a Global Deal for Nature and People.

This Author

Tony Juniper is Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which is out now!

The government has recently announced plans to axe the ‘export tariff’ for new solar installations – in what for many was a surprise move.

Twenty two MPs took part in a pitch-black photo shoot to illustrate this ‘daylight robbery’ and the threat to new solar homes next year.

Participants included Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis, Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead, Conservative MP David Amess, Green MP Caroline Lucas and SNP energy spokespeople Drew Hendry and Alan Brown.

Fair rates

The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings.

If these plans go through, householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects will be forced to effectively donate the excess clean electricity they generate to big energy companies for free.

The proposal runs counter to new EU laws which requires governments to ensure people are paid ‘at a fair market rate’ for the clean power they contribute to the grid.

A recent YouGov poll by campaign group 10:10 shows over 70 percent of people want to see the UK Government follow suit and continue to pay people fairly for the clean power they produce.

The campaigners, which include the Solar Trade Association, 10:10 Climate Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition, NFU, ECA and Community Energy England, are calling on the government for fair treatment of rooftop solar with a fair export tariff guaranteed after March 2019.

Clean energy

Max Wakefield lead campaigner at 10:10 said: “What the government proposes is daylight robbery – literally. Like a vampire this move threatens to suck the life out of the solar industry.

“We urge every one of our lawmakers to get behind our campaign for basic fair treatment for solar homes and communities.

“Action on climate change, solar jobs and clean power for ordinary households, businesses and community organisations is at stake.”

Sir David Amess MP added: “The solar industry has taken the UK from near zero to over a million installations in just 8 years. In doing so solar costs have come tumbling down – but it stands to reason even cheap energy still needs payment for the power it provides.

That’s why I’m backing this campaign to ensure fair treatment for new solar households and businesses. The clean energy and jobs of tomorrow are at stake”

Nonsensical barriers

Caroline Lucas MP said: “The British public love solar – nine out of ten people back it, and three out of every 5 would like to install solar panels themselves.

“The government’s bizarre plans to stop homes and businesses being paid for the clean power they produce will make this all but impossible.

“I’m calling on the energy minister Claire Perry to bring government policy in line with the public’s desire for clean energy at a fair price.”

Leonie Greene, new markets director at the Solar Trade Association added: “We are very grateful for the support these MPs have given.  It is extraordinary & very sad that we are having to fight for basic fair market treatment for people who want to install solar power in future.

“Solar is now very affordable so it is vital that Government doesn’t create new nonsensical barriers to people & communities all over the UK who want to go solar.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker is a contributing editor for The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from 10:10. You can read more about their Daylight Robbery campaign here. 

A combination of growing awareness, an emerging movement for change and the prospect for political breakthrough all signal that the world is waking up to the scale of the threat.

The latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine is out now!

It is not only among activists and campaigners that there is an emerging sense of urgency, but also in the boardrooms of major consumer goods companies, multi-billion-dollar investment houses and among some governments.

All this not least because of the growing realisation that properly functioning natural systems are vital for people’s health, wealth and security.

Environmental restoration 

Here in the UK, public demand is also growing. For example, the political think tank Bright Blue published a report in the wake of the UK’s 2017 general election setting out how one reason the governing Conservative party did poorly among younger voters was its apparent lack of commitment to environmental causes.

These findings help explain the subsequent very welcome rise in profile of environmental issues in politics, laying the foundations for stronger cross-party consensus.

This shift in the public mood offers a rare opportunity to build a new movement for Nature, one that could create a bigger political and public space for action.

The information and research telling us what governments and companies need to do has been in existence for years. What’s been missing is the public demand for action, and the political will to deliver it.

But just as in 2008 there was a polit­ical moment that allowed the passage of the Climate Change Act, the public mood is shifting in favour of change.

Ambitious agenda

We need to grasp this moment to deliver strong new environmental laws at home, in the form of a new environment act requiring the recovery of Nature, alongside new farming policies that promote environmental restoration.

National leadership in key countries, including the UK, would help take forward proposals for a Global Deal for Nature and People, to be agreed in 2020.

This would be a commitment from heads of state when they meet at the 75th United Nations General Assembly, spelling out how it is no longer rational or acceptable to degrade Nature, and instead placing us on a path toward the restoration of the natural world.

Underpinning this would be a series of agreements forged in 2020 in a series of important summits, including new national targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

It would also involved a renewed ambition for the Paris Agreement on climate change, a strengthening of the environmental commitments in the Sustainable Development Goals, and a new agreement on the conservation of wildlife in the high seas.

Join together

This is an ambitious agenda, and needs to be. With sufficient public support and political will, we can halt the long-term decline of Nature and begin restoring the planet that sustains us.

Whether world leaders rise to the challenge is a matter of choice, including in individual countries, such as the UK, which if it wished could show the kind of leadership needed.

The scale of human impacts on the Earth is now utterly unsustainable.

The question now is not whether the world is under threat, but rather whether we will act in time. We need to join together in a movement to demand that the world take action and give us a Global Deal for Nature and People.

This Author

Tony Juniper is Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK. This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which is out now!