I am a passionate campaigner on the environment, a member of the Conservative Environment Network and one of their Net Zero Champions; formerly vice-chair of the Chalks Streams APPG; and was the lead sponsor of the Local Electricity Bill which would allow local groups to sell renewable energy to the community.

I was a supporter of the Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill which aimed to stop water companies from releasing untreated sewage into our waters, voted for legally binding targets as part of the largest ever programme to tackle sewage discharges, successfully pushed Thames Water to invest in Wantage Sewage Treatment Works, backed the requirement for water companies to invest £56 billion on environmental infrastructure improvements and have held Thames Water to account by raising constituent concerns with them regularly since I was elected.

In Parliament, I regularly talk about environmental issues and started a campaign to ensure that new housing is built to the latest environmental standards, rather than the standards in place at the time permission was given.

I also served as Chair of the Community Energy APPG and helped secure the landmark £10 million Community Energy Fund after several months of working with the Government, specifically the Minister for Energy Networks, Andrew Bowie, to get support for community energy into the Energy Bill. 

I also hold an annual Climate Summit for constituents so that they can put forward thoughts and suggestions – you can watch 2021’s here, 2022’s here and 2023's here

You can see more about my campaign by clicking on the links below. 

News

David's Wantage and Didcot Climate Summit 2022

00:00 - Introduction from David 05:05 - The Role of Renewables: Wind, Solar and Bioenergy  54:27 - Alok Sharma: Speech and Q&A 1:35:25 - The Role of Innovation: Featuring Speakers from RAL Space and Astroscale 2:17:20 - The View of Young People: Secondary Schools  2:56:40 - Simon

David's Pre-COP26 Summit

Shortcuts Chris Stark (CEO, Committee on Climate Change) - 4:12 Sarah Allen (Involve, Climate Assembly Project) - 51:24   Break   Homes and Buildings Karl Desai (UKGBC) - 1:44:54 Ian Pritchett (Greencore Construction) - 2:00:12 Q&A - 2:16:28   Renewable Energy Mike Bla