Climate change action is good for the economy – and Britain is the proof | Michael Howard

When John Major set up our global warming strategy, the doom-mongers said it would ruin living standards. New research shows how wrong they were

Just before the Rio Earth summit 25 years ago, John Major, in whose cabinet I then served as environment secretary, made a bold prediction: reducing Britain's carbon emissions in line with recommendations of climate science would not, he said, harm our economy: "Our initial measures ... will bring a worthwhile economic payoff to the country, to business and to ordinary people."

This was a controversial statement at a time when solar energy, for example, was a costly technology better suited to spacecraft than British rooftops. And indeed the argument can still be heard that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will ruin our economies - even that it will return us to a pre-industrial living standard.

Related: Margaret Thatcher: an unlikely green hero? | John Vidal

Figueres is to be commended for her vision. The rationale remains what the British government put forward 25 years ago

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