A Conservative Government will make Britain greener by tackling climate change and enhancing our environment.

We believe quality of life and environmental issues must be at the heart of politics – which is why we have pledged to improve Britain's environment by reversing the decline in our biodiversity, improving urban green spaces, providing incentives to recycle and working towards zero waste.

Britain is struggling to cope with growing mountains of waste. Ending our reliance on landfill is not just a question of raising recycling targets and finding better ways of coping with waste from discarded products; it is about changing our mindset. We need to act long before a product becomes waste in the first place - producers should be considering the waste implications when a product is still on the drawing board.

A Conservative Government will therefore introduce a Responsibility Deal on waste - a voluntary arrangement among producers to cut back on the production of waste and improve its disposal. In addition, we will encourage councils to adopt a scheme which gives incentives to households that recycle.

Climate Change & Energy

With our energy supplies increasingly sourced overseas, and with urgent action needed to combat climate change, it’s time to rethink the way we supply and consume energy in Britain. We urgently need to move to a low carbon economy in order to strengthen our economy, help guarantee our energy security and protect our environment for future generations.

Britain is uniquely places to be the world's first low carbon economy: we have the natural resources to generate wind and wave power, a skilled workforce trained in the energy industry, a high-tech manufacturing sector and a green financial centre in the City of London.

A Conservative Government will make developing renewable and low carbon energy sources a priority by:

• Tranform electricity networks with 'smart grid' and 'smart meter' technology that automatically matches supply and demand, allowing a huge increase in renewable power
• Provide up to £6,500 worth of home insulation improvements, enabling households to reduce their gas and electricity bills
• Create a decentralised energy revolution by introducing a system of feed-in tariffs to encourage micro-generation of electricity
• Expand offshore wind and marine power and provide government backing for a network of large-scale Marine Energy Parks

While ensuring Britain has adequate, safe and reliable access to conventional fuels, we will only permit coal-fired power stations to be built with clean carbon capture and storage technology, restricting carbon emissions to the level achieved by a modern gas power plant.

What can each one of us do?

Nick believes that each and everyone of us can make our contribution to climate change by doing the little things that make a big difference, such as not over filling our kettles, managing our car fuel consumption and using energy saving light bulbs. But he also believes that government must lead by example. That's one of the reasons why he does not support Labours plans for a thrid runway at Heathrow.