Jeremy Miles for Beaconsfield

Early in the campaign I said I wanted to put green issues at the heart of the campaign.

I signed up to support the 10:10 campaign and am working to reduce my carbon footprint this year

I made clear I did not support the expansion of the third runway at Heathrow.

I stated my support for an urgent focus on global biodiversity which must not be ignored as we address climate change – and am a signatory to the Wildlife Pledge 2010.

I met with Waitrose in Beaconsfield to discuss with them their sustainable food sourcing policies and was delighted to speak on Labour’s green policy at Transition Town Marlow’s election hustings.

My view is straightforward.  We need an approach to sustainability and climate change which recognized it is an urgent necessity and an economic opportunity.

I support Labour’s target for 15% renewable energy use by 2020. But I want renewables and high tech to be woven into the fabric of our economy – our engineers and entrepreneurs can flourish in a new age of green innovation. We have laid strong foundations for centres of innovation in the UK, with a real focus on electric cars and wind turbines, and we can create thousands of new jobs and apprenticeships if we continue with Labour’s investement strategy.

I support tougher emissions reductions beyond 34% by 2020 if we succeed in pressing other countries to join us in doing so. Our role in the international community is critical to addressing climate change. Copenhagen obviously was not the success we hoped for but we should still be ready to push hard for a successor to the Kyoto Treaty in order to get a legally binding agreement internationally – and it is good news that the government is playing its part to unlock the finance commitments made last December – one of the few achievements of Copenhagen.

But as well as pressing for change on the international stage we need to empower communities and local councils to take a lead on energy conservation and lower carbon use including by getting involved in local energy creation and giving them the tools to hold energy companies to account.

And what abour our opponents?

With several influential climate change sceptics in the shadow cabinet, climate change sceptics for coalition partners in Europe and a huge number of climate change sceptics on their list of Parliamentary candidates, a Conservative government simply could not take the urgent steps we need to take at this point in our history to meet the climate change challenge, whatever their rhetoric.

And the Liberal Democrats green policy is all about making headlines not making headway. Each one of us has a wish list which we want to see achieved – but being in government is about actual delivery – and in order to deliver a green future which is secure, we need to manage our transition to a green economy. This means making the hard choices in the real world, to help us make it a greener world.