World will ‘never forgive’ leaders for not making hard choices to save planet, says Lord Deben
The world will “never forgive” leaders for not making the hard choices needed to save the planet from the climate crisis at COP26, chairman of the UK’s Climate Change Committee has said.
“We know that we face total destruction and we know how to prevent it, isn’t that a wonderful challenge,” Lord Deben, also known as John Gummer, told the Evening Standard.
“If this generation of leaders now steps up to that challenge, it will have made us the most responsive and responsible generation of all time.”
As the UN’s flagship climate conference, COP26, nears, leaders have been called on to step up their climate policies, in a bid to drive down carbon production.
“Australia is a country which really should have understood what needs to be done and I’m very hopeful that we can try to convince [prime minister] Scott Morrison that really he does have to commit himself to net zero and have a policy to do that otherwise Australia will be left behind,” Gummer, who was the environment secretary in John Major’s government, added.
Gummer explained that, while eyes fall on China as a primary polluter to reign in its emissions output, the country is still “doing a great deal”.
“What I would like to see of course is that China will bring its date for net zero forward to 2050.”
The chairman’s comments follow claims from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory body, lacks proper political accountability.
The IEA added that the Committee’s projections, which are widely relied on by the government, lack ‘rigour and transparency’.
City A.M. has contacted the Climate Change Committee for comment.