Tackling climate change is a ``necessity,'' not a ``luxury'' and Britain must ``wean'' itself off fossil fuels, Cameron said in speech on the environment in London yesterday.
Cameron, who became the Conservative leader in December 2005, spent the first year of his tenure emphasising his commitment to the environment. More recently, he focused on the economy as the credit crunch bit and food and fuel prices soared. His party has a 22 percentage point lead over Gordon Brown's Labour Party, according to a June 15 poll by YouGov Plc.
``We are not going to drop the environmental agenda in an economic downturn,'' Cameron said. ``But neither will we ignore the rising cost of living and the fact that people are hurting.''
Cameron said the Conservatives had learned lessons from California and would introduce an Emissions Performance Standard, meaning a ``new generation of unabated coal power plants could not be built in this country.''
If elected, he would put all additional revenues from environmental taxes into a ``family fund'' which would be used to cut taxes for households, he said. Brown must call an election by June 3, 2010.
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As the price of crude oil rose to a record $139.89 a barrel in New York today, Brown said the U.K. will lessen its dependence on oil. ``The world will increase its use of renewables,'' he told reporters in London. ``The world will increase its use of coal and will lessen its dependence on oil.''
End of Cheap Oil: Cameron said that ``the era of cheap oil is well and truly over.''
``So whether we need to cut our carbon or not -- which we do; whether you believe in climate change or not -- which you should: for the sake of our future prosperity and our current cost of living, we must wean ourselves off fossil fuels and go green,'' Cameron said.
Friends of the Earth urged Cameron to keep up pressure on the government over the environment. ``With fuel prices rising and concern about climate change growing, ending our fossil fuel addiction has never been more important,'' Tony Juniper, director of the campaign group, said in a statement.
Cameron said that under a Conservative government every household would be able to compare their gas and electricity bills with a neighbourhood average.