Keir Starmer today committed the UK to a massive reduction in carbon emissions at the COP29 summit, despite the host hailing oil and gas as a “gift from God”.
The Prime Minister has confirmed the target of reducing emissions by 81 per cent by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.
He used a press conference in Baku to deny that he will need to tell the British “how to live” to achieve the ambitious goal.
But the meeting, rejected by many world leaders but attended by the Taliban, risks descending into chaos after Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, insisted countries should not be ashamed of selling fossil fuels.
In his opening speech, Aliyev criticized “unfortunately a double standard, the habit of lecturing other countries and political hypocrisy” of the West.
Arguing that natural resources were a “gift from God” like other natural resources, he said: “Countries should not be blamed for having them or for bringing them to the market because the market needs them.”
Sir Keir is one of the only prime ministers from Azerbaijan’s wealthier nations to attend the annual meeting, although the Taliban have sent a representative.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev insisted that countries should not be ashamed of selling fossil fuels.
Keir Starmer today committed the UK to a massive reduction in carbon emissions at the COP29 summit
Matiul Haq Khalis, director of Afghanistan’s Environmental Protection Agency, spoke to the media about the impact of climate change on the country
The prime minister is one of the only prime ministers from Azerbaijan’s wealthiest nations to attend the annual meeting. In the photo, an attendee poses with the COP29 poster.
A file image of oil platforms in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan.
An archive image of a drilling site in Baku. Azerbaijan has large reserves of fossil fuels
Countries will also have to deal with the return of Donald Trump (pictured) to the White House, in what analysts say is a trend of climate skepticism in this year’s elections.
The outgoing president of the United States, Joe Biden, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Indian Narendra Modi are not in Baku.
Senior EU and Chinese officials are also not present at what is feared will be yet another gathering that will achieve little or nothing in terms of concrete action.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are staying home. The only other G7 leader participating in the summit is Italian Giorgia Meloni.
A surprise attendee is the Taliban, who have found time to join the event.
Matiul Haq Khalis, director of Afghanistan’s Environmental Protection Agency, spoke to the media about the impact of climate change on the country.
Downing Street said Sir Keir had no plans to meet the delegation.
Countries will also have to deal with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, in what analysts say is a trend of climate skepticism in this year’s elections.
The next president of the United States, the world’s second-biggest polluter, is expected to boost fossil fuels, reduce green incentives domestically and pull the United States (again) from the global Paris Agreement to address climate change, which compromises countries to continue efforts to stop it. heating to 1.5°C.
In his press conference, Sir Keir stressed that he wanted to “tread carefully on people’s lives” as he pursues the emissions target.
The government’s Climate Change Committee has suggested that around 10 percent of the savings in its plan to reduce emissions by 2035 come from changes that reduce demand for carbon-intensive activities, particularly “an accelerated shift in diets away from of meat and dairy products, waste reductions, slower growth in flights and reductions in travel demand.
The Prime Minister said: ‘The goal is my goal and the plan is my plan, I am not borrowing from someone else’s plan.
‘The goal is what I set for myself today. I don’t think that in addressing this really important issue the way to do it is to tell people how to live their lives and instruct them how to behave.’
Sir Keir said: ‘We set the target, which is an important and ambitious target, what we are not going to do is start telling people how to live their lives.
‘We are not going to start dictating to people what they should do. But we are going to be clear that this means getting the clean energy 2030 mission that we have set for ourselves right, one of the Government’s five major projects.
“That’s vital, so we will achieve it, it’s an ambitious goal, it’s an achievable goal, but it won’t be one where we tell people how to live their lives.”
Asked if he was disappointed that other world leaders had not attended Cop29, Sir Keir said the UK was at the summit to “show leadership”.
In a round of interviews this morning, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said no one, including Trump, could stop the transition to clean energy.
“It would be wrong to say that the US elections are not discussed, but I think the amazing thing about what is happening here is that, whether you talk to companies or other countries, people are moving forward with this transition,” he told SkyNews. .
“This is an unstoppable transition and the reason I am here is because this is in our own national interest as a country.”
Sir Keir met World Bank President Ajay Banga in Baku this morning.
Keir Starmer, pictured holding a financial roundtable, insisted Britain can show the way on climate change as he attended the COP29 summit today.
Sir Keir is setting a target for the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 81 per cent by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.
Sir Keir previously said achieving Net Zero energy by 2030 would be ‘“Lowering people’s energy bills will give them independence, so that tyrants like (Vladimir) Putin can’t put their boot down our throats, causing all kinds of difficulties on our energy bills.”
He added: “I accept that it is a difficult objective.” It is an achievable goal. But it’s not about telling people how to live their lives. I’m not interested in that.
“I’m interested in making sure that your energy bills are stable, that we have energy independence and that, along the way, we also get the next generation of jobs.”
Azerbaijan’s choice to host the talks has been criticized for its human rights record, with failings including the persecution of political opponents and the detention of activists.