Friends of the Earth publish Nick Clegg's response to their election campaign for green action

10.57.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 28th Mar 2010

Liberal Democrats "hard-wired" into green thinking - Clegg

This is the reply Friends of the Earth published on their web site after they sought Clegg's views.

Nick Clegg:

"This election could be a turning point, not just for Britain but for the world environment. Some people think that's overstating it, but the scientists tell us that the coming five years could be our last chance to avert dangerous climate change. That means the government we elect next has the most enormous responsibility: to provide change at home and leadership abroad to stop the disaster from happening.

"I am a huge supporter of Friends of the Earth. I am delighted you have chosen to get so involved in trying to influence the outcome of the election in a green direction... to ensure the next set of MPs take responsibility for the future of our planet seriously.

"The sad truth is there are far too many people standing for Parliament, especially in the Labour and Conservative parties who do not…

"Liberal Democrats would hard-wire green thinking into our whole approach. We know how important it is to make housing greener, so in government we'd start a programme to do just that - as well as tightening up the rule on new homes so they're fully energy-efficient and changing the way we charge for energy, so people who use less are better off.

"We'd cut fares for passengers on public transport and create a UK Infrastructure Bank to invest in high-speed rail and shift money from roads to rail. We'd reduce air pollution and set a target for zero waste, so we stop wasting resources and ruining our precious landscape with landfill."

Read more on http://election.foe.co.uk