Climate Action Ilkley: Climate and Nature Bill a game changer

The local group will be asking local MP Robbie Moore to back the bill this week

Climate Action Ilkley are amongst a number of local organisations (including Climate Action Addingham, Climate Action Silsden and Riddlesden Green Connection) that support making the Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill law and are meeting Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley, on Thursday 18 September to ask for his support in achieving this.

If the bill is passed it would create a legally binding obligation for the government to deliver on climate and nature commitments already made; require that climate change and loss of biodiversity are considered together – as the two are clearly interconnected – and lead to the creation of a citizens' assembly on climate and nature to build consensus, reduce polarisation and provide politicians with publicly backed practical solutions.

The bill is already backed by 192 MPs – from Labour and the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents – by over 1,000 scientists and medics and by 75,000 individuals who support the Zero Hour campaign to make the bill law.

In 2021, the then Conservative government issued its Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, highlighting that failure to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels would lead to the types of flooding and fires seen that year becoming “more frequent and fierce” with “crops more likely to fail” and sea levels continue to rise risking the world “reaching climatic tipping points” that could see us “lose control of our climate for good”.

Despite this, last year was the first where the 1.5 degree limit was breached (the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that 2024 had been the warmest year on record), the UK is now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and official estimates are that the UK economy could decline by between 8% and 27% by the 2070s as a direct result of climate change.

In contrast, the transition to net zero represents a huge opportunity. The UK's green economy grew at over 10%, both in terms of value and jobs created between 2023 and 2024, more than three times greater than for the UK as a whole. Generating our own electricity from renewables will also reduce living costs and provide energy security.

We believe that making the Climate and Nature Bill law will allow everyone to hold our government to account in striving to deliver on the positive outcomes that can be achieved from addressing the climate and nature crisis we face and doing so in a fair way that recognises and supports the most vulnerable in our communities. We are hopeful that our MP will support us in that goal.

---

For more on the bill, check out the House of Commons Library research briefing from February 2025 here. If you want to express your support for the bill, you can contact your local MP – including Moore more specifically – here.