Foreign Secretary says that “action on the climate and nature crisis will be central to all that the Foreign Office does”

He acknowledged that “biodiversity loss is as much of a threat as changes to our climate.”  His statement comes weeks before COP29, the annual UN conference on climate change, will be held in Azerbaijan. The crisis, he said, “defines our time.”

Central to COP29 will be vulnerable countries demanding more action and financial and technical support from high-income countries. Lammy argued that “demands for action from the world’s most vulnerable and the requirements for delivering security for British citizens, are fundamentally aligned.  And this is because this crisis is not some discrete policy area, divorced from geopolitics and insecurity.” He called the climate and nature emergency “the most profound and universal source of global disorder.” He continued: “the threat may not feel as urgent as a terrorist or an imperialist autocrat. But it is more fundamental. It is systemic. It’s pervasive. And accelerating towards us at pace.” 

Lammy described how the climate and nature crisis is central to all issues. It “pour[s] fuel onto existing conflicts” and drives extremism.  One consequence is mass migration, which the World Bank estimates could reach 200 million by 2050. He quoted how “The World Health Organisation says climate change is now the biggest threat to human health.”  

Restoring Britain’s domestic activity on the climate and nature crisis will be essential to “restoring our international credibility.  We are bringing an end to our climate diplomacy of being ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’” 

Lammy outlined three policies: building a Global Clean Power Alliance; unlocking much more climate and nature finance; and reversing the decline in global biodiversity.  

Concluding, he said that “there will be no global stability, without climate stability.  And there will be no climate stability, without a more equal partnership between the Global North and the Global South.” 

The full speech can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-secretarys-foreign-policy-speech-on-the-climate-crisis