Sir - The recent IPCC reports on climate change have confirmed that man-made climate change is happening and that sticking to business as usual will lead to temperature rises of three to five degrees above pre-industrial levels. The solution is to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels, both through greater energy efficiency and through other energy generation, particularly renewables.

Investing in renewables should be seen as a great opportunity, not a burden. Renewable energy is becoming better and cheaper every day. It is a growth industry and one that we in Worcestershire can play a part in, as the new turbine manufacturing plant of Endurance Wind Power at Hartlebury shows.

It is just a shame that the current Conservative led government are planning to stop any more onshore wind turbines purely for short-term political reasons, yet are happy to subsidise fracking. For too long the short-termism of the mainstream political parties has stopped us from making the right decisions with regard to energy and climate change. Surely now everyone can see that if we don’t change our fossil-fuel based lifestyles very soon, future generations will hold us responsible for the damage we leave behind.

Matthew Jenkins

Green Party County Councillor – St. Stephen