Conservative environmentalism | Conservative Environment Network

"In a word, we have thoughtlessly, and to a large degree unnecessarily, diminished the resources upon which not only our prosperity but the prosperity of our children and our children's children must always depend."

Theodore Roosevelt

US President

A history of conservative environmentalism

Protecting the environment for future generations has long been an innately conservative instinct.

In 1790, Edmund Burke, the founder of modern conservativism, said, "society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership not only between those who are living but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born."

Burke also warned that "the earth, the kind and equal mother of all ought not to be monopolised to foster the pride and luxury of any men".

More recently, Sir Roger Scruton, a British conservative philosopher, wrote that we are all motivated to look after our local environment by 'oikophilia' (a love of home).

Scruton criticised top-down government schemes and instead argued for a conservative approach with people working together to better their local community, while those who harm the environment bear the social costs of their actions.

A timeline

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1901

Republican Theodore Roosevelt, the "conservationist president", becomes President of the United States of America. He expanded the US Forest Service and created 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments through the 1906 American Antiquities Act - protecting 260 million acres of public land.

1956

Under Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, British Conservatives passed the Clean Air Act to tackle pollution in towns and cities in response to the "great smog" of 1952 in London which claimed more than 4,000 lives.

1967

Iceland begins to transition away from fossil fuels, with the coalition government led by centre-right Independence Party Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson passing the comprehensive Energy Act to develop and utilise geothermal energy. It began the process which led to renewables providing almost 100 per cent of Iceland's electricity today and 9 out of every ten houses being heated directly with geothermal energy.

1970

Republican US President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires impact statements on all policies which may affect the environment, created the Environment Protection Agency to tackle all forms of pollution, and signed the Clean Air Act to improve air quality, which over the next half-century would help to reduce the total emissions of six major pollutants by nearly 70 per cent.

1975

The Liberal-National Coalition Australian government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser passed the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. The government would go on to ban whaling in Australian waters, create the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and add five sites of significant conservation value, including Kakadu National Park, to the World Heritage List.

1988

Canada makes its first commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, pledging to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2005. Mulroney added eight national parks and passed the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the nation's first-ever comprehensive pollution law. He also signed the Canada-US Air Quality agreement to tackle acid rain, and in 2006 was named the "greenest" Canadian Prime Minister in history by an environmentalist magazine.

1989

British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher becomes the first world leader to warn about the threat of the "insidious danger" posed by man-made climate change in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly calling for action to protect the planet.

1990

Under a coalition government led by Prime Minister Harri Holkeri of the centre-right National Coalition Party, Finland becomes the first country to use a carbon tax to tackle climate change.

1997

The Kyoto Protocol was agreed in Japan, committing industrialised nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The UN summit was hosted by the Liberal Democratic Government, Japan's centre-right party, under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

1997

Australia's National Trust was established by the Liberal-National coalition government led by Liberal Prime Minister John Howard, protecting and restoring the country's national capital. He also passed the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which provided a legal framework to protect Australia's biodiversity and natural heritage. In 2001, Howard's government introduced the Renewable Energy Target to drive wind and solar power investment.

2006

Republican Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, introduced the Global Warming Solutions Act, placing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and promoting clean technologies, which boosted the state's economy and created thousands of jobs.

2012

The General Climate Change Law, based on the UK's Climate Change Act was introduced in Mexico by centre-right President Felipe Calderón of the National Acton Party (PAN). It was one of the world's first climate laws and the first in a developing country, and set the target of reducing emissions by 50 per cent from 2000 levels by 2050.

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2014

The UK's Coalition Government led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron establish the Contract for Difference scheme, which successfully scaled up renewables from 7 per cent of the UK's electricity supply in 2010 to over 40 per cent by 2020 while driving costs down. Cameron's government also introduced the Blue Belt around the UK's Overseas Territories protecting 4 million square kilometres of marine environment, home to over 90 per cent of the UK's biodiversity.

2019

British Conservatives led by Prime Minister Theresa May passed legislation enshrining the UK's net zero by 2050 target in law, making the UK the first major economy to do so.

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2021

The UK hosted the UN's climate summit, COP26, under Boris Johnson's Conservative Government, securing the Glasgow Climate Pact with commitments to reaffirm the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, phase down coal-fired power stations, and provide finance for developing countries to tackle climate change. Johnson’s Government delivered the strategies and policy frameworks needed to reach the target, including the Net Zero Strategy, plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and a goal of quadrupling offshore wind capacity by 2030.