BEFORE the Climate and Nature Bill was presented to Parliament, CASA wrote to MP Noah Law, urging him to support it. The letter is too long to publish in full here so we have divided it into two parts. Here is part one, with part two to follow in a fortnight.

Dear Noah, unfortunately, though the PM may have made a more ambitious target to reach net zero and seem to be broadly on board with the desperate need to get there, the statements coming from the Chancellor show a disturbing lack of appreciation of the perilousness of our position.

If net zero isn’t put above growth, there will be no growth. If planning does not involve close collaboration with experts in environment and ecosystems, it will fail to address the dire straits of our nature and play into the hands of the developers. Those opposed are not “blockers” or NIMBYs. There is a need for collaboration, which has been happening, not confrontation. The government needs to improve its rhetoric if it is to maintain the direction of a science-based push to change futures for the better. Don’t even start on Heathrow and other airport expansions. They should be dead in the water.

Whilst I applauded and am relieved by the actions so far taken in the first months of this government, there are some rather odd decisions - like backing Sizewell B and the enormous investment in carbon capture. These are incredibly costly and any benefits will be well into the future. We are in the most consequential decade of human history and changes need to be now and fast. We have all the existing technology to achieve this, so why not invest in that?

Incorporating commitments and gains via the Climate and Nature Bill into an Act of Parliament would lead it to be binding on future governments. The last decade or more of governments have still been bound by the Climate Change Act brought in by your party and, possibly, the single greatest act of the Blairite time. This government should back the Act to leave such a legacy.