Hammond’s going green with drive to tackle climate change

PHILIP Hammond will use his Spring Statement this week to unveil a series of green measures.

The Chancellor will say he has heard calls from young people to act on climate change – and will ‘pledge to preserve the environment for future generations to come’.

It comes after last month’s ‘climate strike’, where thousands of pupils across the country skipped lessons and joined mass events calling for more action to preserve the planet. Mr Hammond will say the UK must be ‘creative and innovative’ on climate change.

Among his proposals to tackle carbon emissions is future-proofing new homes by making sure they are energy efficient, have lower bills and are better for the environment.

He will bring in rules that will force all new-build homes to have low-carbon heating. Mr Hammond has vowed to at least halve the energy use of new-build property by 030.

He will look into whether all airlines should give passengers the option to pay to offset their carbon emissions when booking their flights. Currently only a small number of airlines give travellers that option.

Mr Hammond also wants to help conserve natural habitats in the UK’s overseas territories, from ice fields to coral reefs and tropical forests. Other measures will include a major global review to assess the economic value of biodiversity. It comes as figures show how much biodiversity contributes to the UK economy.

The value to crops of our 1,500 pollinator species, such as bees, is estimated to be at least £680million per year.