Across the UK, young people are growing frustrated with UK leaders who won’t use their power to combat climate change.
That’s why The Big Issue arranged for UK Youth Climate Coalition campaigner George Bond, 16 from Seaton, to interview the man who steers the nation’s environment policy, Michael Gove.
The Environment Secretary said that he felt that it is important to have informed debate “at every level” but did not think the voting age should be lowered, explaining that he is “open-minded” but “not yet convinced” that 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote.
While in conversation with the environment secretary, Bond expressed concerns about the recently approved Heathrow expansion and how that will affect the country’s carbon footprint.
Net zero doesn’t mean that there are no emissions,
“We’re working with not just airports but also airlines in order to see how we can ensure that we minimise the damage that’s generated by emissions,” Gove said. “We were discussing land use and forestry earlier, part of what one needs to do is to make sure that you can capture carbon emissions effectively and move towards net zero.”
He added: “Net zero doesn’t mean that there are no emissions. It just means that the emissions can be captured effectively and that the economic activity that requires emissions can be offset by the right sort of environmental policies overall in order to ensure that we are making the progress we need to.”
