Tag Archives: cop26

Rishi Sunak Blasted For Skipping Cop27 Climate Summit After Environmental Snubs

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Rishi Sunak’s climate credentials have come under question after backing out of attending the Cop27 climate summit days after giving the environment a smaller billing in his government.

The new prime minister has been accused of a “massive failure of leadership” after it was confirmed he will skip the United Nations conference in Egypt next month.

Liz Truss was set to attend the high-profile event in Sharm El-Sheikh but Downing Street said on Thursday that Sunak would instead focus on “pressing domestic commitments”.

No 10 also confirmed the demotion of the position of environment minister as Graham Stuart was reappointed to the role but stripped of his entitlement to attend cabinet.

Cop26 president Alok Sharma also lost his seat around Sunak’s cabinet this week.

Downing Street insisted the PM remains “absolutely committed” to supporting the climate conference hosted in Glasgow last year, denying he was downgrading the importance of tackling the climate crisis.

Last year when Sunak was chancellor, he arrived at the summit bearing a green version of the traditionally red budget briefcase wielded by the finance minister.

Labour’s shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “This is a massive failure of climate leadership. We were the Cop26 hosts and now the UK prime minister isn’t even bothering to turn up to Cop27.

“What Rishi Sunak obviously fails to understand is that tackling the climate crisis isn’t just about our reputation and standing abroad, but the opportunities for lower bills, jobs, and energy security it can deliver at home.”

Green MP Caroline Lucas said “shame on” Sunak, adding: “The first test of leadership is to turn up. The new PM’s decision not to attend Cop27 makes a mockery of any government claims on continued climate leadership – and what a shameful way to end the UK’s Cop presidency.”

Rebecca Newsom, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said the move suggests Sunak does not take climate change “seriously enough”.

“The UK Government is supposed to hand over the Cop presidency to their Egyptian counterparts at next month’s summit. For Rishi Sunak not to show up is like a runner failing to turn up with the baton at a crucial stage of the relay,” she added.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said Sunak was focusing on domestic issues including preparations for the autumn budget, which has been delayed from Monday to November 17.

“The prime minister is not expected to attend Cop27 and this is due to other pressing domestic commitments including preparations for the autumn budget,” she told reporters.

She said the UK will be “fully represented” by Sharma and “other senior ministers”.

“We remain committed to net zero and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change. The UK is forging ahead of many other countries on net zero,” she said.

“We will obviously continue to work closely with Egypt as the hosts of Cop27 and to make sure that all countries are making progress on the historic commitments they made at the Glasgow climate pact.”

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Jeff Bezos Had The Audacity To Give A Speech On The Climate Crisis And No One Can Believe It

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Chris Jackson via Getty Images

Bezos speaking at COP26 in Glasgow

The richest person in the world, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, took to the stage to push for action on climate change on Tuesday – and people could not believe their eyes.

Bezos spoke at the UN’s climate summit COP26 about how his own adventures to space just earlier this year – enabled via his private company Blue Origin – made him realise how fragile the Earth and its atmosphere is.

“Looking back at Earth from up there, [in space] the atmosphere seemed so thin. The world so finite and so fragile,” the billionaire said.

“Now, in this critical year, in what we all know is the decision decade, we must all stand together to protect our world.”

He also announced a £2 billion pledge to restore nature as part of a £10 billion Bezos Earth fund.

But the irony of his declaration was not lost on viewers, who berated him for failing to implement green policies in his own companies.

The i’s Paul Waugh pointed out that just Bezos’ journey into space would have used up fossil fuels, culminating a significant portion of CO2 emissions.

The Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker noted that the billionaire was “explaining the obvious” after his “massively polluting ego trip into space” which lasted approximately 10 minutes.

Walker also pointed out the irony that Bezos even had a platform at the event, noting: “He’s not the saviour, he’s the problem.”

The Financial Times’ Tim Stanley dubbed the Amazon founder’s speech as “COP26′s Marie Antoinette moment” for its insensitivity.

Columnist Nick Timothy pointed out that Bezos still had significant work to do when it comes to making his own businesses more sustainable as well.

And the furious tweets from everyone who caught his speech just kept on coming.

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Why Did World Leaders Fly Hundreds Of Miles To Glasgow? The Environment Secretary Can’t Quite Explain

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Twitter @LBC

Environment secretary George Eustice put his foot in it on LBC

George Eustice struggled to justify why world leaders had flown from around the globe to attend COP26 on Tuesday.

The UN’s summit in Glasgow has been hailed as a last-gasp bid to stop catastrophic climate change – and yet hundreds of delegations flew into the city via private jets, one of the most damaging modes of transport, seemingly undermining the very message of the conference before it even began.

LBC’s Nick Ferrari asked the environment secretary: “Do we really need somewhere in the region of 200 to 300 private jets, a motor convey for the [US] president of 22 cars and a fleet of helicopters.

“This is rather hypocritical isn’t it, secretary of state?”

“Well, look, it’s always possible to see it in those sort of terms,” Eustice replied.

“I take a slightly bigger picture view on this. We’re only going to tackle this crisis if we can get governments around the world to make the right commitments and take the necessary steps to hit them.

“Having an event like this over two weeks where the world works together on a shared endeavour is an important thing to do and that does require people to travel.”

Ferrari persisted and pointed out: “But Mr Eustice – they [world leaders] seek to lecture us – they lecture the good people of Camborne and Redruth as they arrive in convoys of 22 cars, private jets which are gobbling out goodness knows how much CO2 emissions – and they lecture us.

“It’s ludicrous – isn’t it?”

Eustice still denied that the government is lecturing the public, claiming they were actually supporting technologies and decarbonising electricity to get to Net Zero CO2 emissions.

“It’s not really about lecturing people abut how they live their lives, but it is about having the policy agenda at government level,” the environment secretary claimed.

Ferrari then suggested there could be a danger that the government is turning people against it with “this level of hyperbole”.

Eustice’s colleague foreign secretary Liz Truss also fought back over questions about the methods world leaders had travelled to Glasgow on Monday.

She told Sky News that giving up flying is not the solution to reducing CO2 emissions – even though it is one of the most polluting activities out there.

She also claimed, “it’s really important that we do have people face to face”, when asking global leaders to make serious pledges about climate changes.

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COP26: Alok Sharma Dodges Questions On Cambo Oil Field Saying ‘I Have No Power’

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WPA Pool via Getty Images

The UK has come under intense scrutiny over its position towards the Cambo oil field, which is situated to the west of the Shetland Islands and is thought to hold 800million barrels of oil.

Cop26 president Alok Sharma has sought to distance himself from the government’s support of the new Cambo oil field, saying he has “no power” to halt the development.

Sharma ducked a number of questions over whether the UK could claim moral authority over the summit in Glasgow given the UK’s support for the Cambo oil field, which lies west of the Shetland Islands.

A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently stated that no new oil or gas establishments could be set up after this year if the UK was to achieve its net zero target.

But Sharma pushed back against the report’s findings and said the UK had decarbonised faster than any other G20 nation.

Asked by Andrew Marr whether giving the oil field the green light sent the right message to the rest of the world during the climate gathering in Glasgow, Sharma said: “You know, we as a country have decarbonised our economy faster than any other G20 nation over the past years.

“And in terms of oil and gas, we’ve been very clear: we’ve said that in terms of granting any future licences, there will be a climate compatibility checkpoint, and any licences that are granted will have to be compatible with our legal requirement to be net zero by 2050.”

Asked about the IEA’s recommendation to stop any future oil and gas fields, and whether he could stop it, Sharma responded: “Well, it is not as you say in my power, my role here is to bring together consensus amongst almost 200 countries.

“The IEA report also makes clear that, even in a net zero scenario, there is some element of oil and gas in that.”

But Marr pushed further: “I ask again — does allowing the Cambo oil and gas field off Shetland to go ahead now set a good example around the world?

Sharma replied: “That is something that is being considered. There was a consultation inquiry around all of that.

“I’m not going to go into that particular issue. When there is an announcement, an agreement, of course I’d be very happy to come and talk to you.”

The UK has come under intense scrutiny over its position towards the Cambo oil field, which is thought to hold 800million barrels of oil.

The government has sought to defend its interest in the site on the grounds that even as the world moves away from fossil fuels, there will still be an ongoing demand for oil and gas in the coming years.

But climate activists and critics have said the government’s stance towards the oil field sends the wrong message to the rest of the world and to developing nations who will find it costly to decarbonise.

And on Saturday, Sharma was heckled as a “hypocrite” by youth activists while giving a speech at the COY26 youth conference.

Marr went on to say: “The chair of the climate change committee, Lord Deben, says of the oil field one you do that, once you allow that to go ahead, ‘you set an example that will be quoted throughout the world as showing such a development is acceptable’.

“And yet you’re not prepared to stop it.”

Mr Sharma replied: “That’s not my decision, that’s not my role.”

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Greenpeace’s Parody Video Hits Out At The Government’s Empty Climate Promises

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Twitter @JolyonRubinstein

Satirist Jolyon Rubinstein mocked the government in a new Greenpeace video

Greenpeace UK launched a scathing video taking aim at Downing Street’s inaction over climate change on Tuesday.

Featuring satirist Jolyon Rubinstein, the video saw him pose as a government representative talking to members of the public about green initiatives.

The parody is part of Greenpeace’s campaign for “actions not words” from No.10 when it comes to addressing the pressing climate crisis.

“This government takes the climate crisis seriously. We’re committed to making Britain a beacon of a new green revolution,” Rubinstein begins.

“As long as we can agree on a very loose definition of ‘committed’ and ‘green revolution’ and actually taking the ‘climate crisis seriously’.”

He then begins to stop people in the street and, in a serious tone, asks: “Should we really be putting ourselves in a position where we’re putting the planet before profit?”

Rubinstein also took on COP26, the UN’s climate summit which will be hosted by Downing Street in Glasgow and starts on Saturday.

Both China and Russia’s leaders will not be attending the pivotal climate talks despite being two of the world’s most polluting countries.

In the video, Rubinstein pointed out: “China isn’t really doing anything is it, so why should we?”

“Listen you’ve got to be realistic, we’re committed to increasing renewable energy production while simultaneously not upsetting our fossil fuel donors,” he continued.

“If we don’t really utilise those fossil fuels, then the dinosaurs died for nothing didn’t they?”

The satirist joked about the UN’s IPCC report released back in August as well, where world leaders were warned humanity is at “code red” when it comes to the climate crisis.

He told the public – with a straight face – that this warning doesn’t count as the UN didn’t say “what shade of red” they meant.

“The real climate criminals are the ones not freezing their bread,” Rubinstein joked, to the bemusement of passersby.

This comment stemmed from a headline suggestion made by the prime minister’s COP26 spokesperson Allegra Stratton.

She claimed the public should try to help with the climate crisis by taking “micro-steps” including not rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, putting bread in the freezer to prolong its shelf life.

The comment triggered a wave of criticism because such small daily tasks do not have the same effect as the titans in the fossil fuel industry.

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Theresa May Attacks Boris Johnson’s £4bn Cut To Overseas Aid

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Theresa May has attacked Boris Johnson’s cut to overseas aid spending. 

The Tory former PM said the spending cut would damage the UK’s global reputation and make it more difficult to achieve a deal at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow this year.

Johnson is refusing to give MPs a vote on his decision to slash aid spending from the legally mandated 0.7% of national income to 0.5%, with Tory rebels believing they have a clear majority to reverse the cut.

The prime minister has also rejected pleas from Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to allow MPs to vote on the decision.

In an emergency debate on Tuesday just two days before the G7 summit of world leaders, Tory rebels criticised the government over the cut and how it has handled the row.

May said the global fund to end modern slavery, an issue key to her prime ministerial legacy, was having its funding cut by 80% as a result of the government’s policy.

She also argued that slashing spending would run counter to Britain’s interests and “have a devastating impact on the poorest in the world and it will damage the UK”.

On the impact on the UK’s world standing, she said: “They (people) listen to us because of what we do, they listen to us because of how we put our values into practice.

“The damage it does to our reputation means that it will be far harder for us as a country to argue for change that we want internationally, that is across the board, including at Cop26 and also including setting out and putting into place the ambitions of the integrated review.

“I only hope that modern slavery is still there on the G7 agenda as it has been in the past.”

Former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, who is leading the rebellion, told MPs the aid spending cut was an “unethical and unlawful betrayal”.

He said: “The way the government is behaving strikes at the heart of our parliament. 

“It is precisely because the government fears they would lose that they are not calling one (a vote). That is not democracy. 

“I want to argue to the House this afternoon that what the government is doing is unethical, possibly illegal, and certainly breaks our promise. 

“It’s not proper and it’s fundamentally un-British and we shouldn’t behave in this way.” 

Mitchell also repeated his insistence that trying to win favour in so-called “red wall” working class areas by cutting overseas aid spending was “very patronising” to those voters. 

The cut also breaks a pledge to keep the 0.7% target in the 2019 Tory general election manifesto, which helped propel Johnson to an 80-seat parliamentary majority.

“All 650 of us in this House elected at the last election promised to stand by the 0.7%,” Mitchell said.

Responding for the government, Treasury minister Steve Barclay said the cuts were needed given the huge scale of government borrowing to pay for Covid support measures such as the furlough scheme.

He questioned how the rebels proposed raising the £4.3bn required to reverse the cut.

“Leaving the next generation vulnerable to the degree of fiscal threat that would be entailed with a high debt level is not itself morally sound,” Barclay said.

“At the same time, loading ourselves with more debt now might well damage our ability to spend on aid later.”

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