Category: Environment

Rishi Sunak – 2021 Speech at COP26 Finance Day

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 3 November 2021.

Good morning – and welcome to Cop26 finance day.

It’s easy to feel daunted by the scale of the challenge that we face.

By sea levels rising; droughts and wildfires spreading; people forced out of their homes.

But I look around this hall and I feel optimism.

Why?

Because this is the first COP to bring together so many of the world’s finance ministers, businesses and investors with such a clear common purpose:

To deliver the promise, made in Paris six years ago, to direct the world’s wealth to protect our planet.

The good news is that the will is there:

At least 80% of the global economy has committed to net zero or carbon neutrality targets.

Our challenge now is to deploy the investment we need to deliver those targets around the world.

To do so, we are accelerating three actions today.

First, we need increased public investment.

And I want to speak directly to the developing countries of the world:

We know you’ve been devastated by the double tragedies of coronavirus and climate change.

That’s why the G20 is stepping up to provide debt treatments more swiftly.

It’s why the IMF are providing a new, $650bn allocation of special drawing rights – and Kristalina will say more on this later.

And its why we are going to meet the target to provide $100bn of climate finance to developing countries.

And while we know we are not yet meeting it soon enough, we will work closely with developing countries to do more and reach the target sooner.

Over the next five years, we will deliver a total of $500bn investment to the countries that need it most.

And we can do more today:

I can announce that the United Kingdom will commit £100m to the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance, making it quicker and easier for developing countries to finance they need.

And we’re supporting a new Capital Markets Mechanism, which will issue billions of new green bonds here in the UK, to fund renewable energy in developing countries.

Two tangible, practical examples of how we’re delivering our promise of $100bn.

But public investment alone isn’t enough. Our second action is to mobilise private finance.

Let me pay an enormous tribute to Mark Carney for his leadership – leadership that is delivering results.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero has now brought together financial organisations with assets worth over $130 trillion of capital to be deployed.

This is an historic wall of capital for the net zero transition around the world.

What matters now is action: to invest that capital in our low carbon future.

To do that, investors need to have as much clarity and confidence in the climate impact of their investments as they do in the traditional financial metrics of profit and loss.

So our third action is to rewire the entire global financial system for Net Zero.

Better and more consistent climate data.

Sovereign green bonds.

Mandatory sustainability disclosures.

Proper climate risk surveillance.

Stronger global reporting standards.

All things we need to deliver and I’m proud that the UK is playing its part.

We’ve already made it mandatory for businesses to disclose climate-related financial information.

With 35 other countries signing up to do the same.

Today I’m announcing that the UK will go further and become the first ever ‘Net Zero Aligned Financial Centre’.

This means we are going to move towards making it mandatory for firms to publish a clear, deliverable plan…

…setting out how they will decarbonise and transition to Net Zero – with an independent Taskforce to define what’s required.

So: a renewed pledge to $100bn a year of public funding;

Over $130 trillion of private capital waiting to be deployed;

And a greener financial system, under way.

Six years ago, Paris set the ambition.

Today, in Glasgow, we’re providing the investment we need to deliver that ambition.

Now I know that when people hear about global finance it can feel remote and abstract.

But we’re not simply talking about numbers on a page.

We’re talking about making a tangible difference to people’s lives.

About cheap, reliable and clean electricity to power schools and hospitals in rural Africa.

About better coastal defences in the Philippines and the pacific islands to protect people from storm surges.

About everyone, everywhere having fresher water to drink…

…cleaner air to breathe…

…better insulated homes in which to live.

That’s the vision we’re asking you to commit to.

That’s the opportunity we’re asking you to invest in.

And that’s the work we’re asking you to begin, today.

Thank you.

November 3, 2021
Nicola Sturgeon – 2021 Comments on COP26

The comments made by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, on 28 October 2021.

From 31 October to 12 November, Glasgow will host COP26, and welcome leaders, scientists and activists to my home city.

As any Glaswegian can tell you, we are proud of the city’s role as a birthplace of the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. I hope that we can see our city now usher in a net-zero revolution around the world.

There’s no doubt that the stakes are high for COP26. It is the world’s best – and quite possibly its last – chance to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Leaders must come to Glasgow committed to the objectives of the Paris Agreement and ready to turn promises into action.

Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the planet. Global temperatures have already risen by more than 1°C on average since 1880. And people around the world are already living with the impact of that.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C won’t prevent all the potential effects of climate change. But every fraction of a degree above that threshold risks making those impacts more catastrophic. If we allow temperatures to continue to rise, life on this planet will become increasingly unrecognisable.

Everyone who is meeting in Glasgow for the summit knows that. There is simply no excuse for inaction. But despite this, the world isn’t yet meeting the challenge.

It is important to recognise that countries with rich industrial pasts have a special responsibility. We have contributed disproportionately to climate change, so we must now do more to help tackle it.

Understanding that responsibility led Scotland to become one of the first nations to declare a climate emergency.

We have cut our greenhouse gas emissions by more than half since 1990, and since 2008 we have decarbonised faster than any country in the G20. And we now have some of the world’s most ambitious targets for future cuts in emissions.

We recognise that to have credibility we have to act as well as talk. We must meet targets, not just set them.

That’s why, as part of the cooperation agreement between my government and the Scottish Greens, we committed to increase and accelerate our climate action, to go further, faster, and – as we have now set out – to begin work on improving the pace at which a just transition away from fossil fuels is delivered in industries such as oil and gas, so that we are living up to the Paris Agreement.

Small countries such as Scotland can lead the way – and I am determined that we will – but in the coming days it is the countries that emit the most that most need to step up.

They must make ambitious, credible pledges to achieve near-term emissions reductions and ultimately to reach net zero. COP26 must secure commitments that keep alive the chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Global finance, too, needs to be part of the plan of action to help the communities facing the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

In Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries promised to provide $100bn of climate aid every year from 2020. In Paris in 2015, that commitment was repeated. After Glasgow, it must be delivered.

Action must be taken to support countries already living with the often devastating impact of climate change, particularly in the Global South. We must ensure that the nature-based and technological solutions that can help countries adapt to, mitigate and prevent global warming are available to all.

The loss and damage caused by climate change is being discussed in the second week of the summit, but it can’t be merely discussed – we must see some real progress.

This summit must be the first at which the world takes this issue seriously. Scotland has recently doubled our climate justice fund – an extremely small gesture compared with the scale of the problem, but one that at least acknowledges its significance.

Leaders in Glasgow must also focus on fairness between generations, as well as fairness between nations. I’m acutely aware that young people will spend their lives living with the fallout from a climate crisis that preceding generations created.

All leaders at COP26 need to understand younger generations’ anxiety and anger.

To help ensure the voices of the young are heard, Scotland has funded the Conference of Youth, beginning on 28 October. During the conference, more than 400 young people from over 140 countries will gather to draw up their demands of world leaders.

Scotland will do everything we can to ensure the summit’s success. We are not around the United Nations table as an independent state. But Scotland is the location for this year’s COP, and so it has a special role.

In practical terms, we have offered all the help we can to the UN. And we will support the COP presidency of the UK government in any way we can to deliver the bold, progressive, fair and just outcome that is needed.

After all, this summit could shape the future of the world we all live in. Absolutely nothing – and certainly not party politics – is more important than working together to make meaningful progress.

Ultimately, however, the true test of COP26 will be whether the summit delivers the outcomes the world needs.

Global leaders must agree to actions that will secure 1.5°C as a genuine prospect, not just as a slogan.

November 2, 2021
Boris Johnson – 2021 Speech at COP26 Build Back Better Meeting

The speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 2 November 2021.

Let me thank President Biden and President von der Leyen for hosting this meeting and you’re absolutely right that we began this idea with the Build Back Better partnership in Carbis Bay.

To keep 1.5 degrees in sight, to reach global net zero

and to protect vulnerable countries from the impacts of climate change

requires the development of new clean and green infrastructure.

And this presents a huge opportunity to turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for jobs and growth.

In the UK, through our net zero strategy, we’re pioneering a green industrial revolution,

with public investment leveraging billions of pounds of private funding into whole new industries

from offshore wind to carbon capture and storage

allowing us in the UK to level up our whole country with thousands of new green jobs.

And by partnering with developing and emerging economies to invest in climate-smart infrastructure,

and meeting our $100 billion climate finance commitment

we can go on to unlock trillions, when it’s tens of trillions or hundreds of trillions as Mark Carney would say, of private finance,

to do something similar worldwide.

So our pursuit of global net zero can drive global levelling up,

helping developing economies fast track their way to a more prosperous, clean and green future.

So the UK wholeheartedly supports the principles that President Biden has set out,

working in partnership to create the highest standards of climate-resilient infrastructure,

rooted in our shared democratic values of transparency, inclusivity and collaboration,

and led by the host countries, responding to their needs.

And I welcome the work of Mark Carney and others on creating what we call “country platforms” to help connect pipelines of green infrastructure projects with the vast private capital looking to invest in net zero.

The UK is proud to contribute to these efforts today with our Clean Green Initiative.

By taking our green industrial revolution global,

we’re investing over £3 billion,

and mobilising a similar amount of private finance

to support technologies like drought-resistant agriculture where investors have been reluctant to take on the risks alone.

We’re investing in green bonds for renewable energy in Vietnam,

and solar power in Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Nepal and Chad.

We’re offering guarantees to the World Bank and the African Development Bank,

to unlock up to £2.2bn billion of new finance for green infrastructure across India and Africa.

And we’re working with President Ramaphosa to deliver his ambitious vision for faster, greener growth,

helping to lead an $8.5 billion partnership to decarbonise what is currently the most carbon intensive energy system in the world,

and by choking off international finance for coal.

I look forward to working with all of you as we take forward these investments in clean, green infrastructure

And this is like one of those moments in the story of humanity when everybody is making the same intellectual breakthrough at the same time in seeing the way forward, in leveraging in private finance – we have the Global Gateway, we have the One Planet Initiative, we have our Clean Green Initiative, we have Build Back Better World, we have GFANZ- everybody is now on the same thing, it’s time to bring it all together so this can also become the moment we get real on levelling up the world,

securing a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future for everyone.

November 2, 2021
Andy Burnham – 2021 Comments on Insulate Britain

The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, on 2 November 2021.

I can’t see how this type of protest does anything other than alienate people from the climate cause. Have been reassured that Greater Manchester Police are working to get things moving as soon as possible.

November 2, 2021
Ursula von der Leyen – 2021 Comments on Forest Loss

The comments made my Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, on 2 November 2021.

Today’s €1 billion pledge is a clear sign of the EU’s commitment to lead global change to protect our planet, in line with the European Green Deal ambitions. Forests are the green lungs of the earth, protecting them is key in our fight against climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Together we can succeed in fighting forest loss and climate change to deliver a resilient and inclusive post-COVID-19 world.

November 2, 2021
Boris Johnson – 2021 Speech at the COP26 Action and Solidarity Session

The speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 1 November 2021 at the SEC Conference Centre in Glasgow.

Thank you everybody and welcome to this session on action and solidarity.

I’m going to kick off with giving you my perspective because this is about all of us taking the concrete steps that will actually help the countries around the world that need it most.

When it comes to tackling climate change, words without action, without deeds are absolutely pointless.

And our record on deeds so far is not exactly stellar – we had a brilliant speech from Mia Mottley of Barbados making the point.

Back in Paris, richer nations all signed the paper saying that by 2020 we’d be raising $100 billion of climate finance each year and there was no ambiguity, no wiggle room in that.

But that deadline has come and gone and yet it’s going to be 2023 before we hit the target.

So, that was one of our very first post-Paris tests and we’ve collectively flunked it.

But of course getting there eventually is better than not getting there at all.

But if we are late again with the 1.5 or with the rest of the 1.5c challenge then we will have left it far too late.

And as anybody who was in that session at UNGA will remember, the testimony is of those that are on the front line, the countries that face cataclysmic inundations, the countries that face the hurricanes, they really will not forgive us.

They are looking at what’s happening at this COP, and we need to think about them and take action now to prevent loss and damage on a truly catastrophic scale. We’ve got to take action on their behalf.

So I’ve got to say to everybody who belongs to one of the richer and more developed nations, that as the host country for COP26 and with Alok on my right as the President of COP26…

…If I’m forced to choose between those who speak up and who have spoken up passionately for more support urgently because they need it in the most vulnerable countries in the world…

….if I’m forced to choose between them and countries like my own, I’m backing the first group – I’m backing the most vulnerable.

And I want you to know we have your back and we are going to support you.

Because that is the only way to make the change that we need, and I hope that in the course of the next two weeks, the contributor nations will tell their negotiators to stick to that objective and to get to the conclusion we want.

Finally, if anybody tries to row back on some of the commitments they have made and if we feel things aren’t going fast enough, then it’s a clear fact that I become Foreign Secretary nearly 6 years ago now, and in that time I’ve picked up a lot of mobile phone numbers which is stored in my iPhone…

…And I will not hesitate to use that privilege and get on to you and urge you to do more.

And if we’re going to make a success if the COP, if we’re going to deliver for the countries that need it If we’re going to tackle climate change then we must raise that finance and understand the position they’re in.

Thank you all very much.

November 1, 2021
Alok Sharma – 2021 Opening Statement at COP26

The statement made by Alok Sharma, the President of COP26, on 31 October 2021.

Friends, it is an honour to speak to you today for the first time as COP President.

And I want to thank my dear friend Carolina for her really strong leadership over the past two years.

Friends, I am very aware of the responsibility placed upon me in this role.

And I do not underestimate the challenge.

Let me start first by formally welcoming you to Glasgow.

And I want to thank you for all your efforts in getting to the United Kingdom, which I know for some has been arduous due to the impacts of the pandemic.

Indeed for almost two years now the pandemic has caused devastation and disruption, to lives and livelihoods across the world.

And I know this has particularly affected the least developed countries and the small island developing states.

And because of the pandemic, as you know, we postponed COP26 by a year. But during that year, climate change did not take time off.

And the IPCC report in August was a wake-up call for all of us.

It made clear that the lights are flashing red on the climate dashboard.

That report, agreed by 195 Governments, makes clear that human activity is unequivocally the cause of global warming.

And we know that the window to keep 1.5 degrees within reach is closing.

I have been humbled to speak over this year with communities devastated by climate change.

On a visit to Jomsom in Nepal, in the Hindu-Kush region I spoke to communities literally displaced from their homes from a combination of droughts and floods.

In Barbuda I met communities still suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Irma four years ago.

I have spoken with communities in East Africa fighting plagues of locusts spawned by climate change.

And earlier this month I spoke to a group of women in Madagascar,

Determinedly coping with what some describe, as the first climate induced famine in the world.

Friends, in each of our countries we are seeing the devastating impact of a changing climate.

Floods, cyclones, wildfires, record temperatures.

We know that our shared planet is changing for the worse.

And we can only address that together, through this international system.

And we know what we need to do.

Because six years ago, in Paris we agreed our shared goals.

We said we would protect people and nature from the effects of climate change.

We said we would get finance flowing to climate action.

And we said we would limit the rise in global temperature to well below two degrees pursuing efforts towards 1.5.

The rapidly changing climate is sounding an alarm to the world, to step up on adaptation, to address loss and damage, and to act now to keep 1.5 alive.

We know that this COP, COP26, is our last best hope to keep 1.5 in reach.

And I know that we have an unprecedented negotiations agenda ahead of us.

But I believe this international system can deliver.

It must deliver.

And as COP President I am committed to promoting transparency and inclusivity.

And I will lead this conference in accordance with the draft rules of procedure, and with the utmost respect for the party-driven nature of our process.

In that spirit I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues. We can move the negotiations forward. And we can launch a decade of every increasing ambition and action.

And, together, we can seize the enormous opportunities for green growth, for good green jobs, for cheaper, cleaner power.

But we need to hit the ground running to develop the solutions that we need.

And that work, my friends, starts today.

And we will succeed.

Or fail.

As one.

Astronauts speak of the intense emotion they feel when looking back at Earth from space. Seeing it gleaming through the darkness of the cosmos.

Incredible, improbable and infinitely precious.

And if we act now, and we act together, we can protect our precious planet.

So let’s come together over these two weeks.

And ensure that where Paris promised, Glasgow delivers.

Thank you.

November 1, 2021
Sadiq Khan – 2021 Comments on London Climate Summit

The comments made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, on 28 October 2021.

Climate action is about building a greener, healthier, fairer and more resilient city and ensuring future generations can thrive. Making positive changes to our homes and streets will benefit everyone, particularly those Londoners who experience the worst effects of toxic air and climate change. We’ve already made great progress – from cleaning the air with the recently extended Ultra Low Emission Zone, to ensuring all new developments are net-zero carbon through the London Plan.

Future Neighbourhoods is about communities and local government working together to accelerate ambitious climate action and to lower emissions, clean up their air and transform their homes, showing what a net zero carbon London will look and feel like now.

October 31, 2021
Greg Hands – 2021 Statement on Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage

The statement made by Greg Hands, the Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 19 October 2021.

I am today providing an update on the UK’s CCUS cluster sequencing process which was launched in May this year. Carbon capture, usage and storage, or CCUS, will be essential to meeting our net zero ambitions and will be an exciting new industry to capture the carbon we continue to emit and revitalise the birthplaces of the first industrial revolution.

The Prime Minister’s ten-point plan established a commitment to deploy CCUS in a minimum of two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s, and four by 2030 at the latest. Our aim is to use CCUS technology to capture and store 20 to 30 MtCO2 per year by 2030, forming the foundations for future investment and potential export opportunities. CCUS will be crucial for industrial decarbonisation, low-carbon power, engineered greenhouse gas removal technologies and delivering our 5GW by 2030 low-carbon hydrogen production ambition.

Our cluster sequencing process, which has, through the CCS infrastructure fund, £1 billion to provide industry with the certainty required to deploy CCUS at pace and at scale, has completed the first phase of the evaluation of the five cluster submissions received by my Department.

I am today confirming that the Hynet and East Coast clusters have been confirmed as Track 1 clusters for the mid-2020s and will be taken forward into Track 1 negotiations. If the clusters represent value for money for the consumer and the taxpayer then subject to final decisions of Ministers, they will receive support under the Government’s CCUS programme. We are also announcing the Scottish cluster as a reserve cluster if a back-up is needed. A reserve cluster is one which met the eligibility criteria and performed to a good standard against the evaluation criteria. As such, we will continue to engage with the Scottish Cluster throughout phase 2 of the sequencing process, to ensure it can continue its development and planning. This means that if Government choose to discontinue engagement with a cluster in Track 1, we can engage with this reserve cluster instead.

Deploying CCUS will be a significant undertaking; these are new major infrastructure projects for a new sector of the economy and carry with them significant risks to deliver by the mid-2020s. Government will continue to play a role in providing long-term certainty to these projects to manage these risks and bring forward the UK’s first CCUS clusters.

We remain committed to helping all industrial clusters to decarbonise as we work to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and we are clear that CCUS will continue to play a key role in this process. Consequently, the Government continue to be committed to Track 2 enabling 10Mtpa capacity operational by 2030. This puts these places—Teesside, the Humber, Merseyside, north Wales and the north-east of Scotland—among the potential early super-places which will be transformed over the next decade.

October 24, 2021
Ed Miliband – 2021 Speech on Net Zero Strategy

The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Labour MP for Doncaster North, in the House of Commons on 19 October 2021.

I thank the Minister for his statement, and send my warmest congratulations—as I have already done directly—to the Secretary of State on the birth of his new baby.

Let me start by saying that it is good that tackling the climate crisis is a shared national objective across the House, and that we want the Government to succeed at COP26 in just ten days’ time. However, there are two central questions about the strategy that has been published today: does it finally close the yawning gap between Government promises and delivery, and will it make the public investment which is essential to ensure that the green transition is fair and creates jobs? I am afraid that the answer to both questions, despite what the Minister said, is no. The plan falls short on delivery, and while there is modest short-term investment, there is nothing like the commitment that we believe is required—and we know why. When asked at the weekend about the Treasury’s approach to these issues, a source from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said:

“They are not climate change deniers but they are emphasising the short-term risks, rather than long-term needs”.

The Chancellor’s fingerprints are all over these documents, and not in a good way.

We have waited months for the heat and buildings strategy, but it is a massive let-down. We are in the midst of an energy price crisis caused by a decade of inaction. Emissions from buildings are higher than they were in 2015. The biggest single programme that could make a difference is a 10-year house-by-house, street-by-street retrofit plan to cut bills and emissions and ensure energy security. There are 19 million homes below EPC band C, but according to the best estimates of today’s proposals, they will help just a tiny fraction of that number. Indeed, there is not even a replacement for the ill-fated green homes grant for homeowners. Can the Minister explain where the long-term retrofit plan is? Did BEIS argue for it and get turned down by the Treasury, or did he not make the case?

According to the Government’s own target, we need 600,000 homes a year to be installing heat pumps by 2028, but the Government are funding just 30,000 a year, helping just one in 250 households on the gas grid. Why does the Minister’s plan on heat pumps fall so far short of what is required? As for transport, we agree with the transition to electric cars—and I support and welcome the zero emissions mandate—but we need to make it fair to consumers. We should at the very least have had long-term zero-interest loans to cut the costs of purchasing electric cars. What is the plan to make them accessible to all, and not just the richest? Will the Minister tell us that in his reply? On nuclear, I was surprised, given the advance publicity, that the word did not even cross the Minister’s lips. We have seen a decade of inaction and delay on this issue, so can he tell us why there is still no decision on new nuclear?

The failure to invest affects not just whether this transition is fair for consumers but workers in existing industries. Take steel: it will cost £6 billion for the steel industry to get to net zero over the next 15 years. If we want a steel industry—as we do across the House—we will need to share the costs with the private sector. However, there is nothing for steel in this document, and a £250 million clean steel fund some way down the road will not cut it. Can he give us his estimates of the needs of the steel industry and how he thinks they can be met?

The same is true of investing in new industries such as hydrogen. There is a global race in these areas and I am afraid that the UK is not powering ahead but falling behind. Germany is offering €9 billion for a new hydrogen strategy; the UK is offering £240 million, and we are putting off decisions until later in the decade. We see the same pattern across the board, including on land use, industry and transport, and because of this failure to invest, there remains a chasm between promises and delivery.

Finally, it was noticeable that the Minister did not say that the plan would meet the target for the 2035 sixth carbon budget, but surely that is a basic prerequisite of the strategy to 2050. At less than halfway to net zero, do the policies in this document meet the target, or fall short of it? Despite hundreds of pages of plans, strategies and hot air, there is still a chasm between the Government’s rhetoric and the reality? My fear is that the plan will not deliver the fair, prosperous transition that we need and that is equal to the scale of the emergency we face.

October 24, 2021