Prime Minister Andy Burnham has warned that the consensus on both science and climate change has “gone”. Addressing other world leaders and delegates at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey, he said that despite this, the UK was ready to begin a “new era of British leadership” on the climate change issue. But environmental campaigners at the summit said the PM had to back up his warm words with stronger actions. In recent months, the UK government has announced policies which critics say have weakened its green credentials, such as reducing support for heat pumps, approving the Jackdaw gas field and doubling down on support for Heathrow Airport’s expansion.
Burnham opened his speech on Thursday by talking about the heat experienced in the UK this past summer. He said “it was not normal” – in fact it was the hottest on record, made 130 times more likely because of climate change, according to the Met Office. Hundreds of schools were closed, cereal harvests were down 11%, and ambulance services were inundated with calls beyond levels seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the threat to people’s health and homes, the PM said he was creating the UK, and the world’s, first climate security envoy, Dame Madeleine Alessandri.
Alessandri, the former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said: “Climate change and nature loss are increasingly shaping the security environment in which the UK operates.” As a result this was “placing additional pressure on resources, economies and communities around the world”, she added. This will be seen as a strong indication of the focus of the UK’s priorities when it takes up the G20 presidency next year. The current president is the US, which has been a notable absentee from the COP process over the last two years since President Trump withdrew the country from the most important global climate treaty – the Paris Climate Agreement. Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, who identified 20 years ago that climate change could cost the global economy up to 20% of GDP if left unchecked, praised the PM’s words.
“The Prime Minister was right to identify climate change as a threat to security around the world, and the importance of investments in clean electricity generation as the best way of protecting households and businesses from the high prices and volatile markets for fossil fuels,” he said. On tackling the causes of climate change, Burnham said his government remained committed to meeting the country’s target of net zero by 2050 whilst also getting bills down. He said key to this was cutting our “dependence on fossil fuels” and increasing electrification – the amount of our energy needs met from renewable electricity. The main driver of rising global temperatures has been the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, largely caused by burning fossil fuels.
Turkey, the co-hosts of COP31, wants a key outcomes of this year’s summit to be a commitment by countries to meet 35% of their energy supply from electricity by 2035. Currently, it is around a fifth. But Burnham has been accused of having double standards. “The Prime Minister simply cannot call for clean power across the world while saying yes to more fossil fuels in the UK,” said Beth John, climate adviser at Oxfam.
Last month, the government approved the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea on the grounds that it provided energy security. And in the budget last month Chancellor John Healey announced a funding cut to the Warm Homes Plan, which provides grants and loans to support the installation of heat pumps. Whilst this week there has been media speculation that the government is considering watering down electric car sales targets, although the government insists no decision has been made. Successfully switching petrol and diesel cars to EVs and moving from gas boilers to electric-powered heat pumps are key ways to achieve the 35% electrification target, external.
Fire and Floods: Our Extreme Weather The BBC’s climate editor, Justin Rowlatt, investigates the impact of the changing climate on our weather. Watch on BBC iPlayer or on BBC One (BBC Two in Northern Ireland) at 20:00 on Monday 9 November. Although there was no royal presence this year, King Charles III sent a message ahead of Burnham’s speech. “As the world gathers for Cop31, I can only hope that this same spirit of partnership and common purpose can help inspire the collective action that our planet – and future generations – so urgently need.
“Our children and grandchildren will not judge us by the promises we made, but by what we chose to do.” Burnham was the only G7 leader to speak at this year’s conference in a sign of faltering support for the COP process – something he acknowledged in his speech. In an almost word for word copy of Sir Keir Starmer’s address last year he said: “The consensus we once enjoyed on science and climate has gone, and the reality is now the world will reach 1.5 degrees.” Other leaders expected to speak on Thursday include many island states like Tonga, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands. For these nations, the impact of climate change is already at their front door. With most of their land just metres above sea level, rising water levels have caused many to abandon their homes in recent years.
Last year, Australia – the co-host of the COP31 summit – opened up the world’s first climate visa for Tuvalu citizens wanting to evacuate. The first intake was massively over As glaciers continue to melt and oceans expand, average sea levels are expected to keep climbing and potentially accelerate. The World Meteorological Organisation said on the opening day of this conference the global mean sea level was at its highest level since records began.
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