COP26 in danger of becoming ‘greenwash’ summit, Labour warns
Ed Miliband tells Prime Minister to ‘get off sun lounger and start being a statesman’ or COP26 will fail
Boris Johnson will today be told to “get off the sun lounger and start being a statesman”, as Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband warns that without dedicated intervention from the government COP26 risks becoming merely a “greenwash summit”.
With the Prime Minister reportedly taking an early autumn break at a Spanish villa owned by Environment Minister Lord Zac Goldsmith, Miliband will today call for a “step change in action from our government and governments across the world” to deliver a step change in global climate efforts at the upcoming summit in Glasgow.
Moreover, he will accuse the government of being missing in action with regards to the current energy crisis which has seen petrol shortages and rising energy bills for householders and businesses, while warning that failure to deliver a successful outcome at COP26 could mean further crises for the UK economy in the decades ahead.
“We cannot let COP26 be the greenwash summit,” Miliband is expected to say at an event hosted by think tank Green Alliance. “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.”
He is set to argue that a successful outcome remains within reach, but will require the direct involvement of a Prime Minister who has been accused of failing to sufficiently engage with the diplomatic push ahead of the Summit.
“It still can [be a successful summit] – but we need a step-change in action from our government and governments across the world,” Miliband will say. “Above all, finally, at the eleventh hour, the Prime Minister must treat this summit with the seriousness which it deserves.”
There are now less than three weeks until diplomats, world leaders, and campaigners from across the globe are expected to arrive in the Scottish city for the two-week conference, which is widely seen as a critical juncture for efforts to keep the 1.5C temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement within reach.
However, a raft of crucial and contentious issues still need ironing out, with many major nations having yet to come forward with more ambitious climate commitments ahead of the summit, as required under the Paris treaty. Richer nations have also so far failed to stump up the long-promised $100bn a year of climate funding to help developing countries adapt to the worsening impacts of the climate crisis, while the negotiations have long been deadlocked over rules governing carbon markets. As such the UK, as host of the summit, faces a major diplomatic challenge if the Glasgow Summit is to deliver on its goal of catalysing a new wave of global decarbonisation efforts.
Miliband will argue that despite COP26 being such a profoundly important event, there is little public or government clarity about what the summit is seeking to achieve, how its success should be judged, and what nations should be expected to do in the wake of the event.
“We need to be candid about the truth of where we are barely a fortnight from the start of COP26,” he will say. “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.”
Miliband, who as the UK’s former Energy and Climate Change Secretary played a leading role in the passage of the landmark 2008 Climate Change Act under the last Labour government, is a veteran of UN climate summits having led the UK delegation at the Copenhagen Summit in 2009 which ended in stalemate.
He will argue the central task of governments at COP26 is to close the gap between aggregated country by country targets – also known as Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the UN jargon – and the high level ambition required under the Paris Agreement.
The summit is therefore “all about the maths”, with clear commitments needed to reduce global greenhouse emissions from an estimated 53 gigatonnes down to 25 gigatonnes in 2030, according to Miliband. Current national pledges would only see a reduction of four gigatonnes of emissions worldwide by the end of the decade, however, leaving a 24-25 gigatonne gap that needs bridging.
“This is the undeniable and frightening maths of Glasgow,” he will say.
Moreover, Miliband will use his speech to accuse the government of further undermining the chances of success at the summit – and delivering on its own aspiration of being a global climate leader – thanks to a series of confusing and “disastrous” policy decisions.
“The government have been at best bystanders and at worst, contributors to global inaction,” he will say. “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.”
Responding to Miliband’s criticisms, the government insisted the PM had made tackling climate change “his personal international priority” and that Johnson “has been focussing his efforts on ensuring that world leaders can come together and deliver for our planet in Glasgow”.
“He has been clear that COP26 must be the moment that every country, and every part of society, embraces their responsibility to protect our shared future and is looking forward to meeting with leaders – from big emitters to climate vulnerable nations – to make sure COP26 counts,” Number 10 said in a statement.
Miliband’s speech comes just a day after COP26 President-designate Alok Sharma delivered a speech in Paris where he set out the UK’s priorities for the Summit, reiterating calls for governments to come forward with new national net zero strategies, finalise the rulebook of the Paris Agreement, and deliver ambitious policies to mobilise increased levels of climate finance, phase out coal power and internal combustion engine cars, and expand natural carbon sinks.
The latest developments come as Rishi Sunak makes his first official visit to the US as Chancellor, where he is set to engage in talks with G7 finance ministers on how to tackle global supply chain and energy issues, as well enhance ambition on climate action.
Sunak is also set to chair a meeting of G20 finance ministers this week, during which he is expected to call for coordinated action and ambitious emissions reduction targets from all of the world’s 20 biggest economies in order to support the transition to net zero, according to the Treasury.
His visit comes just days before world leaders meet in Italy for the G20 summit, at which climate action is set to be high on the agenda, coming as it does only a fortnight before COP26 in Glasgow, and Sunak will use the meeting to call for further support for vulnerable countries.
It comes as the Chancellor faces criticism for reportedly planning to “recycle” money received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of – rather than in addition to – Britain’s aid budget, in a move expected to save the Treasury billions of pounds a year.
“Global cooperation is key to addressing our shared challenges as we emerge from the pandemic,” Sunak said in a statement ahead of his visit to Washington. “From global tax reform to global supply chains, we must work together to seek international solutions for the benefit of our citizens at home.”
