Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Britain is back and ready to play its full part in tackling climate change, recommitting the Government to its 2050 net zero target during his address to the UN Cop31 summit in Turkey.
Speaking at the annual climate gathering for the first time as Prime Minister, he warned that the climate crisis is upon all of us now after a not normal summer of extreme heat, wildfires and drought.
Britain's commitment to net zero
The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is upon us all now, devastating lives and livelihoods everywhere, he said. Two wars across two continents have sent fuel prices and gas bills soaring for families and businesses across the world, with the common thread being dependence on fossil fuels.
The message I carry here at my first Cop as UK Prime Minister is this: we're committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target, and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs, he added.
Climate leadership and action
Burnham is expected to be the only G7 leader to address the summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, with US President Donald Trump declining to send a delegation for the second year running. He was the first speaker at the conference on Thursday, addressing a half-empty plenary hall at the start of the session with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and London Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan in the audience.
As the world will overshoot 1.5C warming above pre-industrial levels this century, a central target of the Paris Agreement, climate leadership and action have become more urgent, the Labour leader said. Britain will answer the call; climate is a national security issue.
Dame Madeleine Alessandri, former chairwoman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, has been appointed special representative for climate security, the Prime Minister said.
Electrification and criticism
Burnham endorsed host nation Turkey's pledge to increase the share of global energy demand met by electricity from 21% to 35% by 2035. He said electrification is how we protect families from global fossil fuel shocks, creates good jobs and lowers people's bills. The Government will publish a clean electrification road map setting out its plans to build affordable and secure energy systems.
Environmentalists said the speech did little to calm concerns about his commitment to the green agenda, which has been thrown into question amid speculation ministers are considering slashing a target for electric vehicle sales and after they approved the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, with a decision on the larger Rosebank oil project looming.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said on X that it was a speech where the Prime Minister said all the right things on climate but back home he's doing the opposite, locking us into new oil and gas, reducing electric vehicles and cutting funds for warmer homes. Friends of the Earth chief executive Asad Rehman said that if this is all the UK has to offer, then the questions piling in about his climate credibility are more than justified.
Burnham spent just over an hour at the conference venue to deliver his five-minute speech before jetting to Dublin for a gathering of some 50 European leaders. Time pressure meant a planned bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was called off, though he did have brief informal meetings with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Finland's President Alexander Stubb and Cop31 president Murat Kurum.
