COP 26 Is Now 9 Months Away; Johnson Sacks Intended Leader Of Conference, No Clear UK Plans Evident
Developing countries and climate campaigners are growing increasingly concerned that the UK lacks a clear strategy for hosting vital UN talks on the climate crisis, amid fears of a conflict of interest in government between seeking post-Brexit trade deals and a global climate settlement.
Boris Johnson will lead prominent British figures from climate science, business and economics to launch the UK’s strategy for the conference, known as COP26, on Tuesday. The talks, to take place in Glasgow this November, are widely seen as the last realistic chance for countries to pledge the stiff cuts needed in greenhouse gases to stave off climate breakdown. But the strategy was plunged into confusion on Friday night as the intended leader of the talks, former energy minister Claire O’Neill, was abruptly sacked.
Her sudden removal, by the prime minister’s adviser Dominic Cummings, has left a vacuum that the government said would be filled by a minister. While some observers were encouraged that a more heavyweight politician than O’Neill could take the stage, there were concerns that if responsibility for the negotiations is taken on by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, that will mean the same officials and politicians who are trying to sign post-Brexit trade deals will also be trying to persuade recalcitrant governments to renew their commitments to cutting carbon.
The potential conflicts of interest were clearly illustrated at the UK-Africa summit less than a fortnight ago, when Boris Johnson boasted of ending UK funding of coal-fired power plants in Africa – though there had been no such funding since 2002. But at the same conference, nearly £2bn of investment was poured into African oil and gas. Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank, and a long-time observer at the annual UN talks, said: “So far it doesn’t seem like there is a clear vision for Glasgow. The recent UK-Africa summit was a huge missed opportunity to make climate a major theme. And 90% of the energy deals done at the summit were on oil and gas, suggesting that climate change was merely being used as greenwashing veneer.”
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/03/host-uk-does-not-have-clear-vision-for-last-ditch-climate-talks
