We are halfway through the critical decade for tackling climate change, but the world is off-track from limiting global warming to 1.5°C. We are facing a triple planetary crisis of climate, biodiversity loss and pollution posing critical threats to the UK’s national interests across security, resilience, health, the economy and partnerships with other countries.
With global temperatures continuing to rise, the impacts of the climate and nature crises—storms, floods, droughts, food and water insecurity, displaced communities—will be a profound source of global disorder. To engage only with the effects of climate change, war, poverty, pandemics or irregular migration when they arrive on our doorstep is to set ourselves up to fail. This is why the UK needs to re-establish itself as a climate leader on the global stage.
Taking on the challenge of climate change is also an incredible opportunity for jobs and growth all across the country. It will improve our health, our quality of life and our overall prosperity.
The Government have already begun work to deliver on this opportunity, through our mission to achieve clean power by 2030 and accelerating our transition to net zero. We have lifted the de facto ban on onshore wind in England, consented significant amounts of solar, introduced legislation to switch on Great British Energy, created the UK’s first carbon capture clusters, and held the most successful renewables auction to date.
We have put clean energy at the heart of our mission-driven Government, because we know that boosting home-grown, renewable energy is the best way to reduce our exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets, protect bill payers, and strengthen our energy independence. The UK will restore its position as a global leader on climate action, building on the power of example to encourage other nations to follow its lead, and working with international partners to support decarbonisation globally.
COP28 in Dubai saw the first global stocktake under the Paris agreement which illustrated the scale of the challenge—by 2030, emissions need to fall by 43% versus the 2% currently projected and climate finance must increase at least fivefold, drawing on all sources.
The 29th conference of the parties under the UNFCCC will be hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku from 11 to 22 November. It presents the first opportunity in 15 years to agree a new finance goal to replace the current $100 billion target. At the same time, countries must demonstrate progress towards delivering on existing commitments including those in the global stocktake—to transition away from fossil fuels, triple renewables, double energy efficiency, and halt and reverse nature and forest loss.
The UK will work with the COP29 presidency and other partners to push for progress in the following three key areas:
Scaling up finance from all sources to accelerate global transitions. We need to agree an ambitious new collective quantified goal on climate finance for the period after 2025. The UK is committed to working with countries to design a climate finance goal that is fit for purpose and supports those most vulnerable to climate impacts, crowding in private finance while recognising the constraints on the public finances in the UK. Outside the negotiations, we need to accelerate reform of the global financial system to address the transition and resilience finance gaps and barriers that countries face.
Scaling up ambition and action to keep 1.5 Paris agreement goal within reach ahead of COP30. As agreed at COP28, countries must come forward with ambitious, all-economy, 1.5°C-aligned nationally determined contributions for 2035 by next February to bridge the emissions gap. As the Prime Minister announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September, the UK will come forward with our own ambitious, 1.5-aligned NDC at COP29 and will support others to do the same. Globally, we need to accelerate the global transition in energy and other sectors and the UK will show progress on this through initiatives such as the breakthrough agenda and the global clean power alliance—a progressive alliance of developed and developing countries working together to accelerate the deployment of clean power globally and mobilise public and private finance to support clean energy. The alliance will help to bridge the financing gap with the global south and enable more countries to secure the benefits of clean, cheap power.
Building resilience to current and future climate impacts. The UK is committed to achieving a climate-resilient and nature-positive world, supporting the most vulnerable and marginalised who are experiencing the worst impacts of the climate and nature crises. Within the NCQG process, we will work for an ambitious outcome on adaptation finance that maximises nature co-benefits. We would also like to see progress on both the global goal on adaptation and the operationalisation of the fund for responding to loss and damage.
Across all these areas, we must recognise the crucial, often overlooked role of high-ambition action on nature including forests in mitigating and adapting to climate change. This means aligning UNFCCC outcomes with the targets of the global biodiversity framework and joining up approaches to tackling climate, biodiversity, and pollution across NDCs, national adaptation plans and national biodiversity strategies and action plans all in the broader context of achieving the sustainable development goals. It includes protecting the ocean through the ocean and climate change dialogue and restoring forests through the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership.
The Prime Minister, along with other ministers, will attend COP over the two weeks and I will be leading the UK’s delegation during the negotiations.
We are determined to do everything in our power to accelerate global action to reduce emissions this decade and keep within reach the 1.5°C goal in the Paris agreement.
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