Today saw the announcement of the new Shadow Cabinet. There are relatively few surprises and most of the media attention has been on the widely-tipped appointment of Chris Huhne to the Environment post.

Some have suggested that this is a meagre reward for a man who gained 43% of the final vote in the leadership election. After all, Environment is not generally considered to be one of the 'great offices of state', and to shadow the Environment minister is not, perhaps, one of the most glamorous jobs in politics. But I think that this view gets it entirely the wrong way around; it is a measure of how seriously the Liberal Democrats take the environment that they are willing to spend the considerable talents of Chris Huhne in this area.

The environment has been the great neglected area of politics in the last few years. Despite making considerable noises about international issues like the Kyoto treaty, the Labour government has done little to promote green measures at home. As Huhne himself pointed out, environmental taxation now accounts for less, as a percentage of total taxation, than it did in 1997 under the Conservatives. This must partly be because the overal level of taxation has risen since then, but it proves that, whatever Gordon Brown's priorities are, the environment is not one of them. Where Labour have succeeded in meeting emissions targets, it has been because of the natural decline in manufacturing rather than any adoption of greener alternatives.

Now the Tories are attempting to take advantage of this. They have recently been making the case that they are the party of the environment. I take a similarly dim view of this as I do of their liberal credentials. But they have thrown down the gauntlet, and the Liberal Democrats must pick it up. To do so will require clear policies, setting out achievable aims and the means of achieving them. After demonstrating his willingness to formulate and promote policies during his leadership campaign, there can be no better person to do this than Chris Huhne.

His background in economics will, I believe, be crucial. Solving environmental problems is largely a matter of changing behaviour; encouraging individuals and businesses to take up green technology and abandon old, over-polluting methods. This will require a system of incentives which offset the cost of 'going green' in the knowledge that we will reap the rewards in years to come. Huhne's economic experience should enable him to craft a credible, clear and honest set of policies designed to achieve these aims.

Armed with such policies and the political will to make the case for them, he can challenge Labour on the grounds that they have failed on the environment, and the Conservatives on the grounds that they lack the detailed policy to compare. The environment is an issue that requires a sensible, practical approach rather than warm words and vague homilies. Chris Huhne has an opportunity to create an environmental agenda that genuinely tackles the problems we face.