If you live in the UK, you might have missed the General Election. If so, then as a quick recap we can say that the Conservative Party created a majority. The impact for climate and the environment is therefore likely to follow the manifesto.

The Conservative manifesto explains that the funding towards international aid will focus on two key areas: terrorism and climate change. “We will proudly maintain our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on development and do more to help countries receiving aid become self-sufficient,” it said. “We have doubled International Climate Finance. And we will use our position hosting the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in 2020 to ask our global partners to match our ambition,” it continues.

It also promised to introduce the new Environment Bill and introduce a new Office for Environmental Protection. Tree planting and reforestation would be encouraged with a £640m Nature for Climate Fund, the oceans helped by a £500m Blue Planet Fund.

On energy, it proposes doubling R&D funding to £18bn over the course of its tenure, use the £1bn to develop clean energy, increase the UK's offshore wind capacity goal for 2030 to 40GW, invest £800m in CCS (carbon capture storage), invest £500m to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques and impose a moratorium on fracking

The Prime Minister speaking in the wake of the result promised to deliver a UK that would be "the cleanest, greenest country on earth with the most far-reaching environmental programme".

When the cabinet is announced we will have more details.

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