David Cameron to Address COP21 Conference in Paris after Months of Silence on Climate Change

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David Cameron is addressing the world today at the opening leadersโ€™ event at the Paris COP21 climateย conference.

The British Prime Minister has until now remained almost entirely silent on the issue of climateย change.ย 

So, where does Britain stand going into these negotiations, and what does it hope to get out ofย them?

From โ€˜Hug a Huskyโ€™ to โ€˜Cut the Greenย Crapโ€™

It seems like just yesterday that Cameron was promoting the Conservative Party as the โ€œgreenest governmentย everโ€.

But at this yearโ€™s Conservative Party Conference in October, neither he nor the head of his Climate and Energy Department, Amber Rudd โ€“ both of whom have pledged their commitment to a deal at the upcoming Paris climate talks โ€“ mentioned the international negotiations in theirย speeches.

Instead, the government has been going all out for fracking and nuclear energy. And, of course, it continues to maximise the extraction of oil and gas from the Northย Sea.

On that note, itโ€™s worth remembering that the UK has provided almost ยฃ6bn a year of support during 2013 and 2014 to prop up the fossil fuel industry. The majority of this was tax relief for oil and gas companies operating in the Northย Sea.


Read DeSmog UKโ€™s Top Stories on Davidย Cameron:

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Recentย Developments

In addition to offering some of the largest fossil fuel subsidies among the G20 nations, the UK is also actively not pursuing the cheapest forms of clean energy: onshore wind and solarย power.

But, credit where credit is due: the government did take the bold and unprecedented step of setting a date for the end of all coal-fired power stations in the UK.

This doesnโ€™t take away though from the fact that the UK also faces the very real possibility that it wonโ€™t meet its legally binding renewable energy target forย 2020.

Meanwhile, the Department for Energy and Climate Change has quietly downgraded its expectations for each of the low-carbon sources of electricity in its newly revised forecasts. This comes as it increases expectations for new-buildย gas.

Parisย Expectations

As a government Paris summary recently sent out explains, the UK is โ€œcautiously optimisticโ€ about theย negotiations.

This is what they say theyโ€™ll be pushing for as an EU memberย state:

ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  Ambitious mitigation commitments from all Parties (developed and developing), and a plan to implementย them;

ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  A mechanism to review mitigation ambition every five years to bring Parties back to the table to further reduce emissions in line with a long term goal to keep the world moving towards the below 2ยฐCย goal;

ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  A robust, legally-binding rules framework to ensure transparency and accountability around climate action and to help track progress;ย and

ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  Climate finance to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries to take action to mitigate and adapt to climateย change.

It also adds: โ€œAs part of our committed aid budget, the UK is supporting the poorest and most vulnerable to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In September, the Prime Minister announced a significant increase in the UKโ€™s climate finance of at least 50%, with a further ยฃ5.8 billion over the next 5ย years.โ€

Climate Roles inย Doubt

However, budget cuts within government departments are looming and itโ€™s uncertain whether key climate roles will be sticking around afterย December.

As Barry Gardiner, Labourโ€™s shadow climate minister, told Climate Home: โ€œThe rumours โ€“ so we have been told โ€“ are they are going to axe the climate posts once the COP [Paris climate summit] isย over.โ€

But climate change will be solved by then anyways,ย right?

Photo: Number 10 viaย Flickr

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Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

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