Andy Burnham has pledged a “new era of British leadership” on climate over the next decade, telling world leaders at the COP31 summit in Antalya, Türkiye, that the UK would “answer the call”.
Delivering his first COP speech as prime minister, Burnham said the UK was “committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs”.
He said: “The consensus we once enjoyed on science and climate has gone, and the reality is now the world will reach 1.5 degrees. Climate leadership and action have become more urgent. Britain will answer the call. Climate is a national security issue.”
Burnham announced the appointment of Dame Madeline Alessandri as the first UK special representative for climate security. He also announced UK support for the Amplify programme, which he said “will aim to secure 5 billion pounds of new private finance for clean energy projects around the world”.
He said the City of London “has become adept at taking a modest amount of public funding and converting it into significant sums of private investment”.
Burnham said he had decided to attend COP after spending his first three weeks as prime minister “responding to the worst wildfires Britain has ever experienced”. He said he wanted “to show British leadership in a world where climate issues have taken too much of a backseat”.
Burnham last attended a COP, COP26, as mayor of Greater Manchester. He told delegates: “In the five years since we have not moved as quick as I had hoped. The world feels very different now and we need to adapt.”
He also pointed to “two wars across two continents” that he said had “sent fuel prices and gas bills soaring for families and businesses across the world”.
He said: “The common thread running through all of this, our dependence on fossil fuels.”
On jobs, he pointed to the green light given to two major offshore wind projects on Wednesday, which he said would “bring billions of investment, power millions of homes and support thousands of jobs”.
On bills, he said: “If you drive a new electric car today in the UK, it costs less than a petrol equivalent. Get on the right tariff and a heat pump can be cheaper to run than a gas boiler.”
He added that the technologies “are not available to everybody on all incomes”, and said the government was “investing in innovation and subsidising upfront costs for the public”.
He stated: “But we need industry to play their part too and help people on all incomes to make the green transition.”
Burnham said the UK would take up the presidency of the G20 next year and “put climate resilience back on the agenda, with debt, development and insurance as key issues”.
He concluded: “Britain will live up to its commitments. We will help our friends as they live up to theirs. Britain is back and ready to play its full part.”
