UK Environment Minister Promises Leadership At Essentially Decapitated Baku Climate Conference

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The summit, taking place in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, over the next fortnight, has been hit by a flurry of late cancellations. The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will not attend, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will stay in Berlin following the break-up of his governing coalition. Emmanuel Macron, president of France, is also occupied by a domestic political crisis. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, will be at the talks, with the leaders of about 100 countries, mostly from the developing world, which is struggling with the increasing economic impacts of climate-driven disaster.

Keir Starmer, who will spend nearly two days at the talks, is one of the few remaining leaders of the world’s biggest industrialised economies who will attend. He is expected to announce tough new targets for the UK to cut greenhouse gases, and a commitment to fulfil a pledge of £11.6bn in climate finance to poor countries, made under the Conservatives but left hanging in the balance by Rishi Sunak.

Miliband, who will take personal charge rather than leaving the negotiating to junior ministers and civil servants as the previous government did, made clear that Britain would step into the leadership vacuum. “We will be going to Cop with the power of our example to call for others to do their fair share because climate breakdown knows no borders. The UK will step up and lead – to protect our people, and play our part in securing a future for our planet,” he said.

Adair Turner, former chair of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, now chair of the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank, warned that despite “happy talk” from some governments and civil society groups seeking to minimise the impact, the shadow of Trump would weigh heavily. “There is a tendency by some people to try to keep their spirits up by whistling in the dark. But this [Trump’s election] is bad, let’s be clear. We will not get further US action beyond the Inflation Reduction Act [under which hundreds of billions of dollars were supposed to be spent on clean energy] and we needed that.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/09/after-trump-re-election-uk-will-lead-efforts-to-save-cop29-says-miliband