‘Britain is still a global pioneer on the environment’

UK leadership is needed again (Image: GETTY)Now, as leaders and negotiators prepare to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh for the next climate summit, UK leadership is needed again. We must keep world leaders’ feet to the fire to deliver their obligations under the Glasgow Climate Pact. And we must ‘walk the talk’ at home and demonstrate the multiple benefits of acting on climate: for our economy, for our energy security – and for our environment. The COP26 summit took important steps in challenging circumstances. It secured new commitments to slash the polluting emissions that cause climate change, with a raft of ambitious pledges and agreements, from coal phase out to global forest protection. This was genuine UK leadership on one of the most important issues facing the world.The world has changed so much since Glasgow. We are now experiencing multiple global crises: Putin’s war on Ukraine, the resulting spike in energy prices, a host of new global tensions and extraordinary pressure on the cost of living throughout the world.These issues are linked. They reinforce the importance of transitioning from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, accelerating renewable energy deployment, upgrading the insulation of our homes and reducing the country’s energy demands.A year on from COP26, it has never been more obvious that our climate has changed. 40C heat in the UK. Heatwaves and droughts across Europe. Floods in Pakistan. Wildfires in North America.These are the signals of long-predicted changes to the climate, underlining the need for urgent global action. Here in the UK we have an outsized impact through our world-class climate science. We are the template for other countries to shift from coal to renewables.We provide essential green finance and we can demonstrate how a major economy prepares and adapts to the warming climate, while accelerating its transition to Net Zero. This is the story we must tell at COP27. An ambitious global outlook, founded on strong domestic leadership, for the enduring benefit of all of us. We have so much to offer in Egypt.