GLASGOW was the driving force behind the Industrial Revolution as a shipbuilder in the world, building the ships that fueled world trade.

Today it is at the heart of the new global economy, building more satellites than anywhere else in Europe and is a pioneer in clean and green energy, with the UK’s largest onshore wind farm close by.

I saw for myself how Glasgow, not far from my childhood home in Paisley, became a driving force behind our green industrial revolution. Their success shows how essential free enterprise and innovation are to building back better after the pandemic as we accelerate our transition to net zero.

Today we gather the largest gathering of Presidents and Prime Ministers on British soil as the venue for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26.

I look forward to joining them in Glasgow, where we will work to advocate for clean innovation that will ensure a greener world and more jobs and opportunities for people across the country.

The entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and factory workers building the technologies we need are the true heroes of the environmental movement.

Workers helping to build wind farms in Glasgow and North East England, or Rolls-Royce workers in Derby who are setting the standard for nuclear power with the next generation of small modular reactors, are driving the new green economy.

Just as we are proud of our history as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, we should be proud to lead the Green Industrial Revolution today.

We harness hydrogen, marking a world first in using it to power everything from buses in Aberdeen to a brewery in South Wales.

We are leading the way in wind energy, with Teesside workers helping to build what will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

We also have manufacturers like Nissan that build advanced electric cars in Sunderland.

This is not only vital to our economic success, but also to drive progress around the world.

I have worked hard to deepen our economic, diplomatic and developmental ties with our international friends and partners.

This is the key to advancing the new greener global economy we want to see, built on free enterprise and innovation – an economy that embraces the clean technologies of the future rather than burning coal.

We must also respond to the impacts of climate change that are already being felt around the world.

These effects tend to peak in the poorest countries.

We should see a global response this week that matches the scale of the problem.

That is why we are intensifying our efforts with our partners to support these countries, in particular by financing clean, ecological and climate-resilient infrastructure: ports, roads, etc. – reliable and trustworthy.

We need to unlock funds for this infrastructure and invest more where it is needed most.

By working with our partners to co-invest in developing countries, we are helping the world’s poorest countries reap the benefits of new and clean innovations for their economies, our businesses, and the planet.

WIN WIN

It is a win-win.

We have proven at home that a green economy can be achieved alongside economic success, creating jobs and opportunities.

Over the past three decades, we have already reduced our emissions by 44%, while growing our economy by more than 75%.

Just a few days ago, we laid out our detailed strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

There are already 200,000 people working directly across the UK in low carbon industries.

That could reach almost 1.2 million in England alone by 2050.

We are leading by example this week in Glasgow, assembling a global coalition to tackle the climate crisis.

We are determined to act on coal, cars, money and trees to preserve our natural environment and limit global warming to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels and prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

One of the things we want to make progress on in Glasgow is tackling devastating deforestation on a global scale. Over the past two decades, the world has lost almost 100 million hectares of forest, the equivalent of more than 4 times the size of the UK.

But now we have an opportunity to reverse that by stopping deforestation and planting more trees.

For me, it is personal. I was the first Secretary of State to commit to planting a million more trees in the UK.

I created the largest national park in the UK, protecting the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District for generations to come.

I want us to show the world that our country is truly a green and pleasant land.

Now is the time to work more closely with our friends and allies to take advantage of the clean, green, job-creating machine that is free enterprise.

This is how we will drive the green industrial revolution, fight climate change, and pave the way for a better future.

Join the ecological team of the sun

THE Sun now encourages its army of readers to make at least one lifestyle change to slow the advance of climate change.

Anyone can get involved.

We’ve partnered with the global Count Us In campaign to calculate how much carbon you’ll save by forgoing your old ways.

Remember that even small changes help.

Find a suitable setting for you and your family. Keep it up for at least two months and see how it goes. It could become a habit.

When you’re ready, try another step. All of this will contribute to change. We will do it together.

Visit thesun.co.uk/pledge and commit to one or more lifestyle changes.

It could save you money and all your actions will be directed towards a global goal of getting one billion people to make change.

1. Eat more plants – Going for a day without meat reduces carbon emissions as much as not driving for a month.

2. Reduce food waste: The average UK family throws away 700 pounds of food a year.

3. Turn down the heat – With rising energy prices, this will save you money.

4. Insulate your home: stop heating the sky with heat escaping through the roof.

5. Repair and reuse: we drop the equivalent of 250 t-shirts per year.

6. On foot or by bike, one extra trip per day: Gasoline-powered cars emit twice as much pollution in their first five minutes of use, so even short trips add to climate change.

Greta Thunberg arrives in Glasgow for COP26 wearing a huge steel police ring as she claps at the station