The climate emergency is worse than we feared. A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that sea levels threaten nearly 1 billion people living in low-lying coastal regions, and tipping points in the permafrost could release hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon. We must do everything to reduce emissions as fast as possible to limit global warming to 1.5°.

It is welcome that 77 countries, 10 regions and 100 cities committed at the UN summit to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, some of the biggest polluters, such as China, India and the EU, did not announce increased efforts to reduce emissions, and Brazil and the USA refused to turn up. Our country must now step forward to provide political leadership on the world stage. 

At the summit, the Government pledged to double the UK’s international climate finance from £5.8 billion to £11.6 billion over the period from 2021 to 2025. The funding will help develop low carbon technologies and protect rainforests and mangroves, which act as vital carbon sinks. It is crucial that this money is distributed through grants rather than loans, as they unfairly saddle the poorest nations with debt to pay the costs of a problem that they did little to cause.

The Government also announced a new £1 billion Ayrton fund to help British scientists and innovators create new clean technologies to tackle climate change in developing countries. I welcome this fund but am concerned that the funding has come from the aid budget, diverting previous resources from mitigation in climate-vulnerable nations.