In the early hours of Sunday morning, after extending for 33 hours and amid fears of a collapse in the talks, a climate deal was finally struck at COP29 in Baku. Not a deal that satisfies everyone but, nonetheless, a key agreement between countries to continue efforts to save our planet for our children and grandchildren, and to support those most vulnerable communities battered by extreme flooding, drought and storms.

COP29 finally delivered a result: 

An agreement on a new climate fund to support developing countries who are bearing the brunt of climate change and who desperately need more support. Recent months have seen cities flattened, homes lost to water, ash where forests once were, crops devastated – and not just in the developing world now. Recent scenes of flooding from Spain, Italy and France have been a terrifying wake-up call for many in countries which felt insulated from the effects of climate change. 

COP29 is an exercise in hope as much as anything else; hope that in our collective effort to tackle climate change we can keep to our pledge to limit global warming below 1.5°C alive, that we can save the most vulnerable people in the world from living in desperate conditions; we can protect and restore Nature which is so critical to life; create new jobs in the booming green technologies and energy transformation; and enable, happier, healthier and more sustainable ways to exist. It is also an exercise in believing that international discussion – across geographical and ideological divides – can still yield real and productive agreements between countries, not a fashionable view in 2024. However, the climate crisis can only be solved by countries acting together. And “hope is rooted in collective action”, as Obama said in Paris at COP21 when the big breakthrough climate agreement was reached. 

That makes the task of the Liberal Democrats all the more important. We urgently need to rebuild trust in the UK as a world leader on climate. This time on both Climate and Nature, something that we Liberal Democrats are championing – and which the world is crying out for. I saw such relief among many country negotiators to see us back at the table in COP29. The former Conservative government undermined our leadership terribly. Their actions were disastrous globally and domestically. The reneging of the UK’s 0.7% international development spend and their disgraceful rowing back on our climate pledges here in the UK on home insulation, building standards and onshore wind have thrown us off course badly in meeting our targets; not to speak of the damage they have done to our relationship with Europe, our ally in the fight against climate change. 

COP29 reminded me of all the lost years since 2015 here in the UK. The Conservatives were not just callous and careless in undermining the UK as a world climate leader – they were also grossly incompetent. With a strong sciences and university sector, and an abundance of natural renewable energy, the UK’s economic future clearly lies with being at the forefront of green transition, with the creation of many jobs for young and old. The Conservative Party decided to put party before country, despite the consistent national polling showing that the majority of people think we should be doing more to combat climate change.

COP29 hit home most by reminding me how vital it is that the UK gets back on track with its climate targets. Even now, only a third of our UK targets have credible plans to achieve them. It’s right that the UK government showed leadership at COP29 by presenting early, alongside Brazil, our national pledge (our Nationally Determined Contribution, NDC). However, promises are meaningless unless there is a credible action plan and incentives. We cannot afford a further 9 lost years under Labour. 

Liberal Democrats are not interested in screaming from the sidelines. We will be a constructive opposition, and we support Labour’s clean energy ambition but they must go further – most especially on the programme for Warm Homes. It’s common sense: keeping the elderly warm at home, protecting the NHS against a winter crisis, saving money on their skyrocketing energy bills, reducing our reliance on Russian oil and gas, and reducing carbon emissions. Our homes are the oldest (on average) in Europe and among the least energy efficient. As I have said repeatedly in Parliament, delaying Labour’s Warm Homes plan until Spring next year fails to grasp the urgency of the situation. This should have been tackled in the first 100 days of this government. It is now up to Liberal Democrat-led local authorities being on the frontline delivering support, while Labour dithers.

As Liberal Democrats, we believe in empowering the individual and the community. We work with and alongside many local sustainability and community energy groups and eco-councils. I only need to look at my constituency of South Cambridgeshire with the Zero Carbon Communities network, Haslingfield and Harlton Eco-Group, Sustainable Shepreth and many others. In Parliament, it’s the Liberal Democrats that have led the way championing community energy, pushing for its inclusion in the Great British Energy Bill, something which Labour has been slow to do. That’s why at COP29, I backed the global local government movement to get councils, cities and local community action recognised in the Baku agreed final text. The COP29 declaration on Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) to Resilient and Healthy Cities signifies a step change for global recognition of the role local leadership has in tackling climate change. I was proud to back this change: every day our councillors and activists can build on this, showing how this is the right approach – turning COP29 words into concrete results.

It matters what we do in our everyday lives – and everywhere I see examples of local people and communities doing that. It matters that we elect politicians at all levels who know that we need to do more to protect our environment in order to hand down a healthy planet to our children and grandchildren. It’s worrying that President Trump has been elected for a second term. There’s no sense pretending that it isn’t. That is why Liberal Democrats will be working with you and, every more closely, with our allies in Europe and beyond, to be robust in the face of climate-sceptic, right-wing politics. We cannot wait out four years in the hope that political reality will change. We also need a groundswell of climate action on the ground – and the election of Liberal Democrat politicians at all levels so that we can stand up for a common future, a fair deal for the environment, the rights of all to clean air, clean water and clean soil. There will be difficult moments ahead. But I left Baku with hope in my heart. The measure of our success will be how we rise to those challenges when those moments arrive.

Now is such a moment, we cannot afford to lose our ambition for one second.