Ed Miliband used his first speech as Labour Party leader to underline his commitment to fighting climate change.

The former energy and environment secretary said: “The focus groups will tell you that there’s no votes in green issues. Maybe not. But taking the difficult steps to protect our planet for future generations is the greatest challenge our generation faces.”

Mr Miliband added: “When I think about my son, in 20 years time he will be asking me whether I was part of the last generation not to get climate change or the first generation to get it.”

He said climate change was “just like the aging society, [it] can’t be tackled by the politics we have”.

He said solutions the environmental problems “don’t lend themselves to the politics of now: X-factor politics”.

Quite what this means in terms of cold, hard policies remains to be seen, as does who will replace Mr Miliband as Shadow Secretary for Energy and the Environment.