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New research shows the UK has been a key player in
securing stronger EU climate regulations, and Brexit could
give climate deniers more influence
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Weakened relations could risk UK-EU cooperation at
international summits like COP 2020
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Pursuit of US trade deal threatens UK domestic climate
policies
Brexit could lead both the UK and the European Union to
weaken their ambitions to tackle the climate crisis, according to
new research from the University of Sheffield.
Professor Charlotte Burns, an expert on Brexit and the
environment, has demonstrated that the UK has been an important
counterweight in the EU to climate science denier governments in
central and eastern Europe, helping to push the block to adopt
stronger environmental regulations.
The UK has set a positive example through domestic policy
innovation such as the 2050 target for net-zero carbon emissions
and the Climate Change Act, which played a central role in
driving ambition at the EU level. UK climate expertise has also
been a valuable resource for the EU in climate diplomacy.
Professor Burns has warned that the lack of faith between
Brussels and London amid difficult Brexit negotiations puts at
risk future cooperation at the international climate change
summit, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in
2020.
Meanwhile, the UK’s efforts to secure a trade deal with the
United States – which has pulled out of the Paris
Agreement – may jeopardise its future
cooperation with the EU on climate breakdown.
Domestically, the research showed that a no-deal Brexit
would mean there was nothing to stop the UK weakening its own
climate regulations. Professor Burns is concerned that signals
from Downing Street suggest Boris Johnson’s government is not
interested in pursuing similar environmental standards to the
EU.
Professor Charlotte Burns, Professorial Fellow in the
Department of Politics and International Relations at the
University of Sheffield, said: “The climate emergency demands
urgent action. This year we have seen school climate strikes,
stark warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
and alarming reports about melting ice sheets in
Greenland.
“The UK and EU should be working together to meet the goals
laid out in the Paris Agreement and set out roadmaps to achieve
net-zero carbon emissions across the continent by 2050. But
Brexit has created uncertainty and raised the risk that the
climate crisis will be pushed off the political agenda at this
critical moment.
“As we move towards an election, it is important that the
environment and climate breakdown should be high up the political
agenda. Crucially, the risks of a no-deal Brexit for the climate
need to be explained and the scope for no-deal to prompt weaker
EU climate ambition should not be ignored.”
