Thank you to everyone who contacted me about the Make Polluters Pay campaign and COP30.
I agree with you on how crucial a moment the COP30 international climate conference in Brazil this November is. Climate change is not just a future threat to the planet but a present danger that we can already see affecting communities both here in the UK and overseas. Yet we are halfway through the decisive decade for tackling climate change and the world remains off-track to limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
If we act with urgency though, we still have time to reduce emissions so we can limit the worst impacts of climate change. I therefore welcome that the Government is acting with urgency both at home and overseas to address the threat of climate breakdown. I am proud to support its mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero. I welcome, for example, that it has approved clean power with the capacity to power millions of homes, delivered a Clean Power Action Plan to unlock £40 billion of private investment each year, lifted the onshore wind ban in England and overseen a record-breaking renewables auction.
This action is vital to restoring the UK as a climate leader so we can galvanise action at the international level. It has enabled the Government, for example, to submit a world-leading target to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035. As the Climate Change Committee has said, this target is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and with the principles of a fair contribution to tackling climate change.
I also back the Government’s continued ambition to deliver £11.6 billion of international climate finance from 2021 to 2026. This includes £1.5 billion for adaptation and resilience this year to support to the most vulnerable communities who are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change. I welcome that the UK is working with international partners to ensure that Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries are able to access the climate finance they need from the global system for adaptation and resilient growth, and that it is championing locally led approaches and the meaningful engagement and involvement of marginalised people in climate resilience action.
I also recognise that without action, flooding, coastal erosion and other climate dangers will pose greater risks to people’s lives, livelihoods and wellbeing. That is why I welcome the investment the Government is making in climate adaptation and the natural environment to increase our resilience to the effects of climate change and to protect the ecosystems that underpin the economy and food security. This includes more than £2.7 billion a year for sustainable farming and nature’s recovery, as well as £4.2 billion over three years for flood defences.
I appreciate the importance of the “polluter pays” principle. I support, for example, the Government’s continued commitment to maintaining an ambitious carbon pricing scheme to ensure that polluters continue to pay for their emissions. I also welcome the Government’s decision at the 2024 Autumn Budget to increase the windfall tax on oil and gas companies by three percentage points, remove the unjustifiably generous investment allowances in the tax and extended it until 2030. It is important that oil and gas companies pay their fair share towards tackling climate change and supporting the clean energy transition.
Thank you once again to everyone who contacted me. I can assure you that I will continue to support action that delivers for the climate and ensures the UK upholds the objectives of the Paris Agreement and is able to lead by example as we approach COP30 in November.