CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride was in Glasgow recently for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

His main focus, as Chair of the influential House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, was working with other countries on how economic growth can be more compatible with reducing emissions.

The committee has done extensive work on this and links to a report it published in April can be found at: www.melstridemp.com/netzero .

Mr Stride described the progress made at the conference as “really positive”, highlighting the major agreements on phasing out coal, halting and reversing deforestation, and reducing methane emissions.

He also hailed the progress on green finance as a “game-changer”, with a coalition of the biggest finance companies in the world committing $130 trillion of private capital to help countries transition their economies to reach net zero by 2050.

Mr Stride said: “No-one should underestimate the challenge of persuading countries that have been very resistant to taking action on climate change to overhaul their economies to make the difference that is needed. But the commitments secured on greener economic growth and finance, renewable energy, deforestation and methane, are really positive.”

The MP also explained how he hoped the conference will inspire more people to make changes in their everyday lives, adding: “Governments must lead the way with top-down policies that will make our economies radically greener.

"But I hope the conference also inspires us to think about how we can reduce our individual carbon footprints by thinking more carefully about our diets, how we travel, the amount of plastic we buy and how much we recycle.”

Mr Stride is a long-standing campaigner on environmental issues, having steered a major energy bill through the House of Commons in 2013 which has helped shift the UK towards cleaner energy sources.

In the eight years since then, the proportion of our electricity generated from coal has fallen from 40 per cent to just over one per cent while the amount generated from renewable sources has increased from eight per cent to 43 per cent.