With the launch of the LCEF’s new Trustee Board, we asked some of our Trustees to reflect on the political road ahead for climate and nature. In this piece, they share their perspectives on the key challenges Labour and the wider climate movement will face in the next election cycle, the policies they’re most excited to see implemented, and the areas of climate and nature policy that they believe need far more attention.
'Be a builder, not a blocker' sets the tone as adversarial, with one side having to lose for the other to win. We are cleverer than that.
Baroness Young of Old Scone
Now is the time to set aside division and demonstrate delivery through a united approach – and that requires us all to step up.
Recently the portrayal of the Labour growth mission and its impact on the environment has been unhelpfully polarised. “Be a builder, not a blocker” sets the tone as adversarial, with one side having to lose for the other to win. We are cleverer than that. It is perfectly possible to devise policies to deliver our ambitious and visionary growth agenda and at the same time protect and enhance the environment, and to do so without branding as anti-growth the many Party supporters who care about environmental outcomes for their families, communities and businesses.
That is the biggest challenge for Labour and the UK over the next years. It’s not enough to do one, we have to do both. And we can by not breaking stride on the 2030 net zero commitments to act on climate change and boost the green economy creating new jobs, new technologies and new export opportunities. We can cherish the fundamentals of nature and environmental protections which we developed with the EU and which will become more important in our re-set relationship with the EU, while streamlining the way we implement these standards to ensure faster and more straightforward planning decisions. This is not rocket science if there is a will. We did it post-war, we can do it again!
The science hasn’t changed—but the politics has. That makes it even more critical to focus on the underlying undeniable economics to achieve a fair and just transition.
Rishi Madlani
Climate ambition is running into political and economic headwinds. Governments are wobbling, cost-of-living crises and misinformation are fuelling backlash, with extreme voices polarising the debate. The UK is no exception. The science hasn’t changed—but the politics has. That makes it even more critical to focus on the underlying undeniable economics to achieve a fair and just transition.
The Labour Government’s priorities are clear: deliver clean power by 2030, rebuild Britain’s industrial base, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the green economy. These goals aren’t just environmental—they’re economic, strategic, and cut across all sectors. But these goals need public and private capital to flow into low carbon projects and investments.
Sustainable finance has grown significantly. But transition finance—backing real change in carbon-intensive sectors—is where the hardest work is needed. It’s not just about chasing shiny green projects. It’s about financing transformation in energy, steel, construction, transport. That means credible transition plans, patient capital, and clear market rules to attract investment.
The Clean Energy Mission and National Wealth Fund show Labour is serious about delivery, not just declarations. With the right governance and political will, these can deliver the backbone of a more secure, more sustainable and resilient UK economy.
Climate action isn’t a cost. It’s the growth story of this decade.
But it also presents a huge opportunity to transition a much wider pool of people into good jobs and to revitalise communities where those jobs are most needed.
Sue Ferns
Writing in the summer after a Spending Review that delivered positive and ambitious investment to meet the Clean Energy Mission, I want to see equal priority given to people and skills. I therefore strongly welcome the commitment to the creation of good, unionised jobs. Construction, operation and regulation of the UK’s net zero infrastructure depends crucially on a sustained and increased supply of skilled workers.
This is arguably the most significant challenge of all, not least because many of those working in relevant occupations are also in demand in other sectors of our economy. But it also presents a huge opportunity to transition a much wider pool of people into good jobs and to revitalise communities where those jobs are most needed.
Protecting our climate must be a shared endeavour, not one in which regulators are castigated as blockers – often based on little or no evidence. In fact, more serious debate highlights the lack of regulatory resource and deliberate underfunding of regulators by the previous government as a cross-cutting challenge. Regulators operate best when they can engage with business at an early stage, taking a pro-active approach to problem-solving.