Why do you talk about pollution and global warming in one breath? Co2 is not a pollutant it is a colourless odourless gas essential to life on earth and is an insignificant Greenhouse gas compared with water vapour (over 90% of Greenhouse gas is water vapour).

We are in an Interglacial period the world has rarely been cooler and we canot chnge the fact that we will go ionto another ice age in the future.

Bio fules are already driving up food prices and people are already dieing as a result. Stop this Green nonsense now!

Doug Mattews, Auckland, New Zealand

All of the main political parties seem to be living in la-la land. Just consider the REAL world.
Last year China (alone) built more Coal fired power stations than the entire generating capacity of the UK. Just what makes anyone think that bashing British 4x4 owners - or even petty rules to banish 'stand by' buttions and put 'green' taxes on aircraft- will have any effect worldwide?
Forcing the British to don hair-shirts will have no effect other than losing elections!

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

So a third of the population have experienced climate change do they?. That'd be the same people who say they've been abducted by aliens and believe Diana was killed by the royal family. They're idiots. As for the 80% who say that climate policies will affect how they vote, I'm one of them. Threatens to tax me for climate change. Lose my vote.

Redclliffe, London,

A good column. There are, of course, solutions which are both green and market-based. An important one is congestion charging which, despite the heat the topic tends to generate, is simply a mechanism to balance supply and demand for limited city road space by pricing (as for most goods and services) instead of queuing, which we generally gave up as a rationing system a few years after the war. But, as Camilla says, the revenue should not go to the Treasury but - as in London - towards improving and keeping down the price of public transport, which many already use and others could easily do so. Will the Tories have the courage to back it?

Barry, Wallington, UK

The voters will hopefully send Cameron a clear message by decimating the party.

Ian Burgess, well said!

peter, London,

I am glad you mentioned immigration because this is seen as more of a concern to most people than green issues.

One of the problems is that, contrary to your claim, one rarely sees a Conservative MP mentioning immigration even though it is one of the top concerns of people according to various polls. This is largely a consequence of the suppression of free speech by liberal PC tyrants.

David, Birmingham,

Ben should read a little deeper in the report. Beyond the press releases. They are supporting Open cast coal mining (page 300). Mass burn incineration (p268) with all the harmful emissions that arise from UK waste. Burying CO2 under the sea bed, with who knows what consequences.
But perhaps worst is the complete lack of understanding that shifting Heathrow landing slots over to long haul routes (p355) will cause ie a massive increase in emissions.

James Page, London, UK

why do so many people consider that human pollution and climate change are interchangeable terms?
Climate change is cyclic and unavoidable---no one can tax it away.
Some control of the total world population might have some effect, but who is going to tackle that. Perhaps Tony Blair will volunteer.

David Henry, Edinburgh, UK

Finally someone has woken up to the idea that the free market can be allied with keeping the planet in working order.
the green issues have been obscured by soundbites for too long, this seems to be an idea that might actually work. If they add in free market incentives leveling the tax system (ie if you earn more you pay more tax, just at the same rate across the board, maybe one rate no matter how much you earn above one single limit) then i'll change my lifetime attitude and vote for them, the makings of a good center right policy there, apealing to the quiet majority

Ben, folkestone,

Well said, Ian Burgess. Of course, they could be basing their assertion on the time they spent on holiday in a parallel universe making measurements on an unpopulated control version of Earth.

Steve, Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada

"Climate change" is the new form of Social Control.
I am childless and will take no lessons from those who procreate, so making matters worse yet appear to have a stake in 'the future'.

Robert, London, UK

"David Cameron’s breakthrough was to understand that many of us also aspire to leave a better world behind us."

Is this as opposed to previous generations of humans who aspired to leave a worse world behind? What kind of nonsense is this?

onion, london,

Tories are by nature unashamedly materialistic, yet environmental protection requires regulation. Two irreconcilable positions.

Pablo, Edinburgh, Scotland

Cameron's green agenda is superficial in the extreme, and is focussed on bandwagons rather than intelligent long terms proposals. He has competely fudged the Nuclear issues (too controversial), fallen for the environmentalists neurotic focus on aircraft (a small proportion of emission, and extremely diffiuclt to tackle), and failed to come up with anything new.

It is lazy nonsense to describe labour's environmental taxes as "going straight to the Treasury" as though Gordon Brown was personally pocketing the cash, whereas Cameron's will "help families". In fact the conservatives seem most excited about reducing Inheritance Tax, whose effects will be highly concentrated on a few large benificaries.

Reducing internal flights will be best achieved by providing good trains as is proved by France. Nuclear Power is needed - the unpredictable supply offered by home wind and solar is actually useless and a COST to generators to handle.
Not impressive at all.

Nick, France,

A better world is one which better knows how to solve problems by relying on individuality. A world hedged in on all sides with green regulations would be a horrible thing to dump on the next generation.

_Felix, Nottingham,

Leave a better world behind us? Well, a few of us do. But the majority only want 'better' if it involves no inconvenience or expense. Better is simply not going to happen, we're not even going to get to grips with Global Warming, let alone its root cause which is human overpopulation.
Gorillas and other great apes, the tiger, and a host of less visible species will all become extinct while we tut from our armchairs, conveniently overlooking the fact that humans have killed them by stealing their habitats.
Let's forget trivia like '4x4s' and start a media campaign to stigmatise having more than two children.
Why, even this paper, read by the sois disant intelligentsia, has no Nature section, so what do the chattering classes really care about the planet?

Ivor Duarte, Shepperton, UK

Wow, a third of people had experienced climate change (did they go abroad for their holidays in July and August?) which dear columnist means two-thirds did not of course. Typical chattering class metrocentric article. Most ordinary people have rumbled that 'green' taxes are just nothing more than taxes. As for Gummer 'saving the planet' - do me a favour.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

Commonsense in Civic efficiency is nothing new. The Victorians were very good at producing clean, safe streets, clean water and efficient waste management...as much as they were able to in that age, subject to what they knew. Cameron is just jumping on the Green bandwagon, a lot of which is utter nonsense. If the 60 million citizens of this country reduce their emissions by 5% (highly unlikely) we are still heading for self destruction. What about the billions in Asia, all acquiring more wealth and cars. I'd be more impressed if Cameron and his eco warrior rich kids got their parents to reduce their number of houses, cars, boats and private 'planes. I'd be more impressed if Cameron & Co dealt with the real issues of the day.

Russell Hicks, Caterham, Surrey

Tory party? Green party, more like. One-trick groups don't get elected. Whilst green may be the new black, red will be the colour of power if Cameron persists with this over-zealous embracing of all things environmentally friendly.

Nobby, London,

Absolute nonsense. The average Joe public could not care less about the nonsensical 'green' revolution. It will guarantee that the Tories lose the next election if they carry on with this theme. Dave's advisers are not only barking but up the wrong tree too.

Victor M., Malaga, , Spain