UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has been accused of hypocrisy on the international stage after he pushed for a phase-out of fossil fuels at the UN Cop28 climate summit in Dubai – weeks after backing more oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
According to reports, the prime minister’s lack of “consistency” over climate policy was ridiculed by several senior Conservatives, as well as the former US vice president Al Gore, while members of other international delegations said the UK’s incoherent approach meant it was no longer a global leader on climate issues.
One of the most contentious issues being discussed by more than 150 world leaders who are gathered in Dubai for Cop28, is a resolution backing the phasing out of fossil fuels. Proponents say a global commitment to end their use is essential to put the world on track to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Oil-producing countries frustrated attempts to introduce such a commitment at last year’s meeting.
But the European Union, together with more than 100 countries, including the US, the UK and many developing nations, are now backing a strong commitment to phase out fossil fuels at this year’s summit. The host country, the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producer, has signalled that the final agreement must address fossil fuels in some way.
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However, the UK’s support for such a declaration has only highlighted the glaring lack of consistency with its domestic policy. Recall that only last month, Sunak dismayed environmentalists when he announced legislation in the king’s speech for a new annual system of oil and gas licensing in the North Sea. This followed a scaling back of other green commitments including delays to a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.
Gore, who was speaking in an interview with the Observer at Cop28 said: “I am not impressed with prime minister Sunak’s climate policies. I think they’re terrible. They’re very disappointing.”
He said that the UK normally “punched above its weight” in international affairs. “When its policies are supporting the flourishing of humanity and solving the climate crisis, it can have a very big impact for the good. When it is backsliding, it tends to sometimes give permission to other nations to backslide more than they might otherwise do,” he said.
“It does hurt the efforts here at Cop28 to have a UK prime minister adopting policies that can seem to only benefit the fossil fuel industry,”he said.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
