Still not sure who to vote for on Thursday in the general election? We've pulled together the promises on issues affecting the outdoors and the climate crisis from the main party manifestos across England and Wales. The information is all here for you to decide for yourself who has the nation's outdoor spaces at heart.

[Please note – this is not a comprehensive list of all pledges but just some of the headlines]

Climate Change / Carbon Emissions

Conservatives

• Reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution.
• We will ….develop affordable and accessible clean energy that will improve lives and help us to lead the world in tackling climate change.
• We will lead the global fight against climate change by delivering on our world-leading target of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as advised by the independent Committee on Climate Change. We have doubled International Climate Finance.

Labour

• Labour will kick-start a Green Industrial Revolution. Our Green New Deal aims to achieve the substantial majority of our emissions reductions by 2030 in a way that is evidence-based, just and that delivers an economy that serves the interests of the many, not the few.
•  We will launch a National Transformation Fund of £400 billion and rewrite the Treasury’s investment rules to guarantee that every penny spent is compatible with our climate and environmental targets – and that the costs of not acting are fully accounted for too.
• We will introduce a Climate and Environment Emergency Bill setting out in law robust, binding new standards for decarbonisation, nature recovery, environmental quality and habitats and species protection.
• We aim to achieve net-zero-carbon food production in Britain by 2040
• Rebuild our climate expertise within the Foreign Office, putting climate diplomacy at the heart of our foreign policy.

Liberal Democrats

• Protecting nature and the countryside, tackling biodiversity loss and planting 60 million trees a year to absorb carbon, protect wildlife and improve health.
• Require all companies registered in the UK and listed on UK stock exchanges to set targets consistent with the Paris Agreement on climate change and to report on their implementation
• Establish a Department for Climate Change and Natural Resources, appoint a cabinet-level Chief Secretary for Sustainability in the Treasury to coordinate government-wide action to make the economy sustainable resource-efficient and zero-carbon, and require every government agency to account for its contribution towards meeting climate targets.
• Establish UK and local Citizens’ Climate Assemblies to engage the public in tackling the climate emergency.
• Create a statutory duty on all local authorities to produce a Zero Carbon Strategy, including plans for local energy, transport and land use, and devolve powers and funding to enable every council to implement it.
• Increase government expenditure on climate and environmental objectives, reaching at least five per cent of the total within five years.
• Support investment and innovation in zero-carbon and resource-efficient infrastructure and technologies by creating a new Green Investment Bank and increasing funding for Innovate UK and new Catapult innovation and technology centres on farming and land use and on carbon dioxide removal.

Green Party

• We have developed the Green New Deal. This is a comprehensive ten-year plan ambitious enough to tackle climate and ecological breakdown at the scale and speed set out by science. The Green New Deal will get the UK on track to reducing climate emissions to net zero by 2030 by:
  • Meeting most of our energy needs through the domestic production of renewable energy.
  • Reducing our overall energy demand from buildings and homes.
  • Transforming UK industry, transport and land use.

Plaid Cymru

• Ensure that Wales transitions to a low carbon, nature friendly economy.
• Develop a package of environmental and fiscal reforms to aid the transition to a greener economy.

Clean Energy

Conservatives

• Our world–leading off-shore wind industry will reach 40GW by 2030 and we will enable new floating wind farms.
• We will invest £800 million to build the first fully deployed carbon capture storage cluster by the mid-2020s.
• We will invest £500 million to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques.
• We will support gas for hydrogen production and nuclear energy, including fusion, as important parts of the energy system, alongside increasing our commitment to renewables.
• We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.
• We will help lower energy bills by investing £9.2 billion in the energy efficiency of homes, schools and hospitals.

Labour

• Energy use in buildings accounts for 56% of the UK’s total emissions, making it the single most polluting sector. We will develop the recommendations of our ‘30 by 2030’ report to put the UK on track for a net-zero-carbon energy system within the 2030s – and go faster if credible pathways can be found. We will deliver nearly 90% of electricity and 50% of heat from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030. We will build:

• 7,000 new offshore wind turbines
• 2,000 new onshore wind turbines
• Enough solar panels to cover 22,000 football pitches.
• New nuclear power needed for energy security
• We will trial and expand tidal energy and invest to reduce the costs of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production. We will upgrade almost all of the UK’s 27 million homes to the highest energy-efficiency standards, reducing the average household energy bill by £417 per household per year by 2030 and eliminating fuel poverty. We will introduce a zero-carbon homes standard for all new homes.
• We will launch a Climate Apprenticeship programme to enable employers to develop the skills needed to lead the world in clean technology.
• Labour will tackle the climate crisis and cut energy bills by introducing a tough, new zero-carbon homes standard for all new homes, and upgrading millions of existing homes to make them more energy efficient. We will review the planning guidance for developments in flood risk areas
• We will expand distributed and community energy, and immediately and permanently ban fracking.

Liberal Democrats

• Implement the UK’s G7 pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, and provide Just Transition funding for areas and communities negatively affected by the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
• An emergency programme to insulate all Britain’s homes by 2030, cutting emissions and fuel bills and ending fuel poverty.     
• Investing in renewable power so that at least 80 per cent of UK electricity is generated from renewables by 2030 – and banning fracking for good.
• Accelerate the deployment of renewable power, providing more funding, removing the Conservatives’ restrictions on solar and wind and building more 42 Liberal Democrat Election Manifesto 2019 interconnectors to guarantee security of supply; we aim to reach at least 80 per cent renewable electricity in the UK by 2030.
• Expand community and decentralised energy, support councils to develop local electricity generation and require all new homes to be fitted with solar panels.
• Ban fracking because of its negative impacts on climate change, the energy mix and the local environment.
• Support investment and innovation in cutting-edge energy technologies, including tidal and wave power, energy storage, demand response, smart grids and hydrogen.
• Require all new homes and non-domestic buildings to be built to a zero-carbon standard (where as much energy is generated on-site, through renewable sources, as is used), by 2021, rising to a more ambitious (‘Passivhaus’) standard by 2025.

Green Party

• The Green New Deal for energy will revolutionise the way we produce and use energy. It will:

• Enable communities to develop their own renewable energy projects, so that the benefits of locally generated energy can stay local.
• Introduce new support and incentives to directly accelerate wind energy development, paving the way for wind to provide around 70% of the UK’s electricity by 2030.
• Introduce new support for solar, geothermal, tidal, hydro and other renewable energies to provide much of the remainder of the UK’s energy supply by 2030.
• Transform the planning system so that it works to support a massive increase in wind power and other renewable generation.
• Work with the Crown Estate, which owns much of the UK’s coastline, to open up more coastal waters for offshore wind and marine energy. We will ensure that the long-term profits from these vital energy assets come to the UK government rather than energy firms.
• Remove subsidies to the oil and gas industries.
• Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction, based on greenhouse gas emissions produced when fuel is burnt. We will also apply a Carbon Tax on imported energy, based on its embedded emissions. We will raise the Carbon Tax rate progressively over a decade, rendering coal, oil and gas financially unviable as cheaper renewable energies rise up to take their place.
• Expand our short-term capacity for energy storage so that electricity from peak periods of renewable electricity generation (e.g. days with very strong winds and many hours of sunshine) can be effectively stored – utilising solutions such as domestic solar batteries, storage as heat in hot water cylinders and thermal stores, and smart control of vehicle battery charging.
• Prohibit the construction of nuclear power stations.
• Ban fracking, and other unconventional forms of fossil fuel extraction, now and forever.
• Improve the insulation of every UK home that needs more insulation by 2030. The material used for these insulation improvements will be sustainable.
• Roll out solar panels and other forms of renewable domestic energy generation, giving 1 million households a year the means to generate a proportion of the energy they use. This will mean that 10 million homes are able to generate their own renewable energy by 2030.

Plaid Cymru

• Plaid Cymru will implement a Green Jobs Revolution which will ensure that Wales makes the transition to becoming 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy by 2030.
• We will develop plans for renewable energy that operate in harmony with nature by identifying ecologically sustainable sites for offshore and onshore wind energy development, as well as potential areas for solar and tidal energy development. This will be a cornerstone of our ‘Welsh Energy Atlas’. It will show where different forms of energy resources would have the least ecological impact, as well as potential sites for nature redevelopment and conservation.
• Tidal Lagoons for Swansea Bay, Cardiff and Colwyn Bay.
• Building an Ynys Môn offshore windfarm.
• Building an Usk barrage.
• A network of local energy grids for Wales.
• Amending land use planning legislation to enshrine a fast-track route for community-owned energy schemes such as hydro-electric power projects, with a presumption in favour of development.
• Encourage private sector investment in new green technologies.
• Fully realise marine energy potential including wave, tidal range and tidal stream energy.
• Seek a complete ban on fracking and new open-cast coal mines.
• Oppose the development of new sites for nuclear power stations.
• Oppose the use of pylons through National Parks and Areas of Natural Beauty, advocating the use of underground and undersea cables to carry electricity where feasible.

Plastic and Waste

Conservatives

• We will continue to lead the world in tackling plastics pollution, both in the UK and internationally, and will introduce a new levy to increase the proportion of recyclable plastics in packaging. We will introduce extended producer responsibility, so that producers pay the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce, and boost domestic recycling. We will ban the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries, consulting with industry, NGOs and local councils on the date by which this should be achieved.
• We will crack down on the waste and carelessness that destroys our natural environment and kills marine life. We will increase penalties for fly-tipping, make those on community sentences clean up their parks and streets, and introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle plastic and glass.
• We will set up new international partnerships to tackle deforestation and protect vital landscapes and wildlife corridors. We will establish a new £500 million Blue Planet Fund to help protect our oceans from plastic pollution, warming sea temperatures and overfishing, and extend the Blue Belt programme to preserve the maritime environment. We will continue to lead diplomatic efforts to protect 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

Labour

• We’ll also take on the global plastics crisis by investing in a new plastics remanufacturing industry creating thousands of jobs, ending exports of plastic waste and reducing our contribution to ocean pollution.
• We will make producers responsible for the waste they create and for the full cost of recycling or disposal, encouraging more sustainable design and manufacturing. In government in Wales, Labour has transformed the position of recycling, placing them in the top five globally for recycling rates. A UK Labour government will learn from Wales’ example, and will also back bottle-return schemes.
• We will invest in three new recyclable steel plants in areas with a proud history of steel manufacturing.

Liberal Democrats

• Banning non-recyclable single-use plastics and replace them with affordable alternatives, aiming for their complete elimination within three years, as a first step towards ending the ‘throwaway society’ culture and an ambition to end plastic waste exports by 2030.
• Benefitting consumers through better product design for repairability, reuse and recycling, including extending the forthcoming EU ‘right to repair’ legislation for consumer goods, so helping small repair businesses and community groups combat ‘planned obsolescence’.
• Extending deposit return schemes for all food and drink bottles and containers, working with the devolved administrations to ensure consistency across the UK.
• Establishing a statutory waste recycling target of 70 per cent in England, extend separate food waste collections to at least 90 per cent of homes by 2024, and strengthen incentives to reduce packaging and reduce waste sent to landfill and incineration.

Green Party

• Ban the production of single-use plastics for use in packaging and invest in research and development into alternatives to plastic. We will also extend the successful tax on plastic bags to cover plastic bottles, single-use plastics and microplastics, and extend plastic bottle deposit schemes.
• Develop and implement a reformed waste strategy where manufacturers and retailers are required to pay the full cost of recycling and disposing of the packaging they produce.

Plaid Cymru

• We will tackle the issue of plastic waste by banning single-use plastics, developing sustainable alternatives and increasing recycling targets.
• Plaid Cymru will place Wales at the forefront of the circular economy and ensure a Zero Waste Wales by 2030 through a combination of legislation and policy initiatives, such as Deposit Return Schemes, extended producer responsibility and use of planning laws, levies and tax-making powers.

Sustainable Travel

Conservatives

• We will support clean transport to ensure clean air, as well as setting strict new laws on air quality. We will consult on the earliest date by which we can phase out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars.
• We will give city regions the funding to upgrade their bus, tram and train services to make them as good as London’s, with more frequent, better-integrated services, more electrification, modern buses and trains and smart ticketing
• We will invest £1 billion in completing a fast-charging network to ensure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid electric vehicle charging station. We will consult on the earliest date we can phase out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars, while minimising the impact on drivers and businesses.
• To help communities across the country, we will restore many of the Beeching lines, reconnecting smaller towns such as Fleetwood and Willenhall that have suffered permanent disadvantage since they were removed from the rail network in the 1960s
• We will support commuter cycling routes, so that more people can cycle safely to work and more families can go out together.

Labour

• Cutting emissions will drive our transport policies.
• Labour will ensure that councils can improve bus services by regulating and taking public ownership of bus networks
• Labour will deliver improvements for rail passengers by bringing our railways back into public ownership, using options including franchise expiry.
• We will promote the use of rail freight in order to reduce carbon emissions, air pollutants and congestion on the roads and expand the provision of publicly owned rail freight services.
• We will increase the funding available for cycling and walking.
• We will position the UK at the forefront of the development and manufacture A GREEN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 21 of ultra-low emission vehicles and will support their sale.
• We will invest in electric vehicle charging infrastructure and in electric community car clubs. We will accelerate the transition of our public sector car fleets and our public buses to zero-emissions vehicles.
• Any expansion of airports must pass our tests on air quality, noise pollution, climate change obligations and countrywide benefits.

Liberal Democrats

• Investing in public transport, buses, trams and railways to enable people to travel more easily while reducing their impact on the environment.
• …..ensuring that all new cars are electric by 2030.
• Placing a far higher priority on encouraging walking and cycling
• Accelerating the transition to ultra-low-emission transport – cars, buses and trains – through taxation, subsidy and regulation.
• Accelerate the rapid take-up of electric vehicles by reforming vehicle taxation, cutting VAT on EVs to 5 per cent and increasing the rate of installation of charging points, including residential on-street points and ultra-fast chargers at service 47 stations. We will ensure that, by 2030, every new car and small van sold is electric.
• Extend Ultra-Low Emission Zones to ten more towns and cities in England and ensure that all private hire vehicles and new buses licensed to operate in urban areas are ultra-low-emission or zero-emission vehicles by 2025; we will provide £2 billion to support this transformation.
• Shift more freight from road to rail, including electrifying lines leading from major ports as an urgent priority, and amend the current HGV road user levy to take account of carbon emissions.
• Reduce the climate impact of flying by reforming the taxation of international flights to focus on those who fly the most….., placing a moratorium on the development of new runways (net) in the UK, opposing any expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted and any new airport in the Thames Estuary, and introducing a zero-carbon fuels blending requirement for domestic fights.
• Restore bus routes and add new routes where there is local need; we will provide £4.5 billion over five years for this programme.
• Introduce a nationwide strategy to promote walking and cycling, including the creation of dedicated safe cycling lanes
• Build on the successful Local Sustainable Transport Fund established by the Liberal Democrats when in government, and workplace travel plans, to reduce the number of cars – particularly single-occupancy cars – used for commuting, and encourage the development of car-sharing schemes and car clubs and autonomous vehicles for public use
• Convert the rail network to ultra-low-emission technology (electric or hydrogen) by 2035, and provide funding for light rail and trams.

Green Party

• Our Green New Deal for transport will invest in public transport, walking and cycling so wherever people live they are not forced to use a car, by:
  • Spending £2.5 billion a year on new cycleways and footpaths, built using sustainable materials, such as woodchips and sawdust.
  • Making travelling by public transport cheaper than travelling by car, by reducing the cost of 16 If Not Now, When? travelling by train and bus. Coach travel will also be encouraged, with new routes for electric coaches provided across the country.

• We will bring all railways back into public ownership over ten years.
• Apply a Carbon Tax on all fossil fuels, as outlined above in the ‘Green New Deal for energy’ section, which will increase the cost of petrol, diesel and shipping Green Party Manifesto 2019 The Green New Deal 17 fuel, as well as on aviation fuel for domestic flights.
• Ban advertising for flights, and introduce a Frequent Flyer Levy to reduce the impact of the 15% of people who take 70% of flights.
• Stop the building of new runways and all increased road capacity, saving thousands of acres of countryside every year and protecting people from the harm of increased air pollution and traffic danger.
• End the sale of new petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2030.
• Create a network of electric vehicle charging points across the country, by requiring their construction through the planning system and encouraging the private sector to deliver them. We will ensure that these charging points are located in public places, and do not take up pavement and cycling space. We will require all existing petrol stations and motorway service stations to offer electric vehicle charging points by 2025.

Plaid Cymru

• We will invest in a national electric vehicle charging network across Wales, starting the transition towards a wholly electric fleet of public sector vehicles and increased use of private EVs.
• Plaid Cymru will introduce a bicycle use reward scheme, to encourage people out of their cars and onto their bikes. This will lead to a significant reduction in road congestion and a boost for improved health and wellbeing.

Environment

Conservatives

• We will invest in nature, helping us to reach our Net Zero target with a £640 million new Nature for Climate fund. Building on our support for creating a Great Northumberland Forest, we will reach an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year by the end of the next Parliament, as well as restoring our peatland.
• We will protect and enhance the Green Belt. We will improve poor quality land, increase biodiversity and make our beautiful countryside more accessible for local community use. In order to safeguard our green spaces, we will continue to prioritise brownfield development, particularly for the regeneration of our cities and towns.
• Our Environment Bill will guarantee that we will protect and restore our natural environment after leaving the EU. Because conservation has always been at the very heart of Conservatism.
• We welcome the Glover Review and will create new National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (in England), as well as making our most loved landscapes greener, happier, healthier and open to all. We will make the coast to coast path across the most beautiful areas of the North a National Trail.

Labour

• We will provide an extra £5.6 billion in funding to improve the standard of flood defences and respond to the increased risk of flooding, prioritising areas at risk in North West England, Yorkshire and the East Midlands
• Our Plan for Nature will set legally binding targets to drive the restoration of species and habitats. We will embark on an ambitious programme of tree planting, with both forestry and native woodland species.
• We will fully fund the Environment Agency and other frontline environment agencies, and improve upstream river management.
• We will create new National Parks alongside a revised system of other protected area designations, which will guard existing wildlife sites and join up important habitats, while also ensuring more people can enjoy living closer to nature. (Labour have pledged to create ten brand new national parks, increasing the total size of our national parks by 50%)

Liberal Democrats

• Introduce a Nature Act to restore the natural environment through setting legally binding near-term and long-term targets for improving water, air, soil and biodiversity, and supported by funding streams of at least £18 billion over five years.
• Combat climate change, and benefit nature and people by coordinating the planting of 60 million trees a year and introducing requirements for the greater use of sustainably harvested wood in construction.
• Invest in large scale restoration of peatlands, heathland, native woodlands, saltmarshes, wetlands and coastal waters, helping to absorb carbon, protect against foods, improve water quality and protect habitats, including through 45 piloting ‘rewilding’ approaches.
• Increase the budget for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ensuring that agencies such as Natural England and the Environment Agency are properly funded.

Green Party

• Reduce pesticide and fungicide use by at least 50% by overall weight by 2022, phase out all non-agricultural uses of pesticides, and immediately ban the most harmful substances.
• Plant 700 million new trees and aim for 50% of all farms to be engaged in agroforestry by 2030.
• Encourage, through changes to the planning system, the ‘rewilding’ of spaces to provide new habitats for wildlife.
• Deploy environmentally friendly flood management measures to protect communities from flooding. These measures, which include tree planning and soil restoration in upland catchment areas.
• We have a plan to transform and reconnect with the countryside, which will …create a new ‘ecocide’ law to prevent crimes against the natural environment.
• Councils will be required to deliver new homes in a way that preserves local ecology and creates 6 new green spaces.
• Strengthen Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest protections, with development in these areas only being permitted in exceptional circumstances.
• Ban mineral extraction, road building and military training from all National Parks. We will give local communities a say in National Park governance, though creating new democratically elected positions on National Park boards.
• Open up car-free access to the National Parks with new cycling, walking and bus links.
• Encourage applications from communities for new Green Belt, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Park designations.
• Increase funding for the Environment Agency and Natural England, to support the vital work they do to protect our environment.
• Immediately ban the most harmful pesticides (including glyphosate) and introduce new rigorous tests for pesticides. Only pesticides that pass this test, and demonstrably don’t harm bees, butterflies and other wildlife, will be approved for use in UK.
• Invest in peatland restoration and end both the burning of peatlands and use of peat in compost in horticulture. We will advocate an emergency international agreement to conserve and enhance carbon sinks and reservoirs including forests, peat fields and coastal and estuarine areas.
• Invest in ecotourism and associated schemes such as rewilding, habitat recovery and species reintroduction, creating new job opportunities.
• Commit to making at least 30% of UK domestic waters into fully protected marine protected areas by 2030.
• Recognise access to diverse nature as a human right and uphold it across society.
• Create a Nature GCSE to encourage children to value nature, and to grow a whole new generation of naturalists. We will also introduce an English Climate Emergency Education Act to support schools to teach young people about the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate and environmental crises, and to ensure youth voices are heard on climate issues.

Plaid Cymru

• We should aim for a minimum planting rate of 2,000 hectares a year from 2020, a target recommended by the UK Climate Change Committee. Increasing our native tree woodlands not only has a major part to play in terms of carbon capture, but offers many other benefits including flood control, providing wildlife habitat, improving the quality of our landscape, and creating useful timber products.
• We will place a greater emphasis on flood prevention in planning guidelines, recognising that climate change will make serious flooding events more likely in future. We will invest in prevention work to reduce new and repeat flooding across Wales, utilising land management techniques such as planting new woodland to manage water retention in the uplands and prevent water run-off.

Outdoor recreation and public access

Conservatives

• We will make the coast to coast path across the most beautiful areas of the North a National Trail.

Liberal Democrats

• Significantly increase the amount of accessible green space, including protecting up to a million acres, completing the coastal path, exploring a ‘right to roam’ for waterways and creating a new designation of National Nature Parks.
• Give the Local Green Space designation the force of law.

Green Party

• Restore access to the countryside by re-opening lost public rights of way and creating new ones. We will grant to people in England and Wales the same right to roam over all landscapes as people in Scotland currently enjoy. We will protect and enhance access to inland waterways.

The role of the BMC 

Following the 2019 election, the BMC will be contacting MPs to ask them to become Champions for the Outdoors and giving them advice on how best to do this. We want to help MPs and Peers to become champions for outdoor recreation and assist more people to get active outdoors. The benefits of outdoor recreation to health, wellbeing and the economy are clear and government departments need to work together to maximise the potential.

If you want further reading on the issues that will most effect walkers, climbers and mountaineers around the county, UKClimbing has put together a summary of the policies proposed here:

We want to say a big thanks to every BMC member who continues to support us through the Coronavirus crisis.

From weekly Facebook Lives and GB Climbing home training videos, to our access team working to re-open the crags and fight for your mountain access, we couldn’t do it without you.

Did you know that we've just launched a new U27 membership offer for just £1.50 / month? And with full membership from £2.50 / month, it's never been easier to join and support our work: 

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/join-the-bmc-for-1-month-U27-membership

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