With less than a month to go to the most consequential summit that
has ever taken place, about the most consequential issue facing the
world, Labour is warning that COP26 cannot be allowed to be the
“greenwash summit” with Ed Miliband saying the Prime Minister needs
to “get off his sun lounger, and start being a statesman.” In a
speech at a Green Alliance event tomorrow (October 13) on the key
markers to delivering for people and planet at COP26 in Glasgow
Labour’s Shadow Secretary...Request free
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With less than a month to go to the most consequential summit that
has ever taken place, about the most consequential issue facing the
world, Labour is warning that COP26 cannot be allowed to be the
“greenwash summit” with saying the Prime Minister needs to “get off his sun
lounger, and start being a statesman.”
In a speech at a Green Alliance event tomorrow (October 13) on the
key markers to delivering for people and planet at COP26 in Glasgow
Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy, , will draw on the lessons he learnt at the Copenhagen
summit in 2009 and set out the key tests for government
success.
He will argue for such a profoundly important event, there is
little public or government clarity about what COP26 is seeking to
achieve, how we should judge its success and what we should do
afterwards.
Linking to the current energy crisis he will warn that the
government’s failure to have a plan is hitting families and firms
today, and a failure to deliver at COP26 would mean a further
crisis for our economy in the decades ahead.
On the energy crisis facing families and firms will say:
“Ministers are turning on each other when they should be turning
outwards to engage with industry and take action by intervening. We
can’t sit back and watch whole British industries go to the
wall.
will set out that COP26 is “all about the maths”, with
clear commitments needed to reduce gigatonnes of emissions by 2030
and avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. The
central task of government is to close the gap between the
aggregated country by country targets and the high-level ambition
of Paris.
In his speech will say in hard numbers, to keep global warming to
1.5 degrees, the world needs to reduce emissions from 53
gigatonnes, to 25 gigatonnes in 2030. There are currently estimated
to be less than 4 gigatonnes of emissions reductions on the basis
of pledges agreed so far, leaving a 24-25 gigatonne gap.
Miliband will say that government actions are undermining their own
case:
“The government have been at best bystanders and at worst,
contributors to global inaction.”
“When trust between developing and developed countries is the key
to success, and we need to persuade others to step up on climate
finance, the UK took the disastrous decision to cut the aid budget,
the only G7 country to do so. When we are telling every
major emitter they must act, the UK has done a trade deal with
Australia allowing them to delete Paris temperature commitments
from the text. When we have rightly made powering past coal a focus
of our Presidency, at the very same time the government has flirted
with a new coal mine in Cumbria.”
In the speech will also set out Labour’s five demands of government
to Keep 1.5C Alive.
will also say:
“We need to be candid about the truth of where we are barely a
fortnight from the start of COP26. We are miles away from where we
need to be. What is the COP about is a question I get asked a lot?
The answer is surprisingly simple but has never been properly set
out by government
“To have a fighting chance of keeping global warming to two
degrees, we need to be at 41 gigatonnes of emissions in 2030
and for 1.5 degrees, we need to be at 25 gigatonnes.
“In other words, reductions of 12 gigatonnes from business as usual
for a 2 degree world and 28 gigatonnes for a 1.5 degree world.
“The best estimates are that we stand at a maximum of 4 gigatonnes
of emissions reductions on the basis of the pledges made.
“This is the undeniable and frightening maths of Glasgow.
“We cannot let COP26 be the greenwash summit.
“It’s time for the Prime Minister to get off his sun lounger, be a
statesman and make Glasgow the success we need it to be. This
summit must succeed.
“It still can.
“But we need a step-change in action from our government and
governments across the world.
“Above all, finally, at the eleventh hour, the Prime Minister must
treat this summit with the seriousness which it deserves.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
will speak at 2pm on Wednesday 13th October.
