Kei Starmer's Labour Climate Sleight of Hand May Not Be a Total Flop - Bloomberg
Kei Starmer's Labour Climate Sleight of Hand May Not Be a Total Flop - Bloomberg
Labour’s Climate Sleight of Hand: Less Money, Same Goal
Even after a £20 billion+ cut in green spending plans, Starmer’s ambition still beats the Tories.
A Labour government probably won’t result in fewer of these protests. Photographer: Mike Kemp/In Pictures
The UK Labour Party’s flagship campaign promise is now officially dead — and what a death. The opposition has slashed its £28 billion-a-year ($35 billion) green spending pledge by 80%, down to just £4.7 billion.
In my last piece on this topic, I argued that Labour must now convince us that the ambition is still there, even if the headline figure is gone. They’re certainly trying to do that and, to be fair, the pledges still offer more for the UK and the environment than the Conservatives have. In an editorial in the Guardian, Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves wrote that their “green prosperity plan remains central in our mission to grow the economy and deliver clean power by 2030.”
Related Knowledge Center: Climate diplomacy
Talks are well underway in preparation for the next major international meeting on climate change, 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in the United Arab Emirates.
Much like last year’s COP27, finances — specifically, aid to developing nations — will be at the center of conference deliberations.
The conference faces an even greater sense of urgency brought on by the Sept. 8, 2023, release of the first global stocktake, which calls for accelerated action to meet the goals set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (COP21).
Climate diplomacy: COP 27 | Climate diplomacy: COP 28 | Climate diplomacy: COP 29