C’mon Keir: A New Year’s resolution for the Prime Minister
After a year described by the UN as a ‘masterclass in human destruction’, we need the Prime Minister to make a New Year’s resolution to back the landmark Climate and Nature Bill next month.
It is that time of year again. No sooner has the last morsel of Christmas lunch been swallowed and the last cracker cracked than the nation’s collective attention turns to promising how to make ourselves happier and healthier.
But if you are the Prime Minister, elected just six months ago, what should your New Year’s resolution be?
My suggestion for Keir Starmer: back landmark legislation this January that will ensure the UK meets its climate and nature pledges and stops us dying in a watery flood, fiery inferno, or insect apocalypse!
We have all seen the news. Floods. Wildfires. Droughts. Storms. More floods. More wildfires. More droughts. A conveyor belt of disaster. No wonder UN Secretary General António Guterres dubbed 2024 ‘a masterclass in human destruction’.
Guterres is a diplomat who has spent years trying to find the perfect combination of words to alert leaders to just how screwed we really are.
He has burned through colourful catchphrases like ‘code red for humanity’, ‘global boiling’, ‘climate meltdown’ and my favourite: ‘We’re on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator’.
But global leaders are determined to pretend he is talking about another planet. Not the one they are actually in charge of.
And yet, if 2024 was destructive, 2025 offers us a chance to turn things around.
Next month, Parliament has an opportunity to deliver real ‘change’ when the groundbreaking Climate and Nature Bill heads for its Second Reading. It is a Private Member’s Bill, much like the recent Assisted Dying Bill.
And, at a time when many are trying to be the best versions of themselves, the Bill will ensure the UK keeps its promises on taking ambitious action on climate change.
The first is to do our utmost to keep global heating from exceeding the critical 1.5°C limit, above which, and as the last Government warned, ‘we risk losing control of our climate for good’. The UK’s ‘NDC’ committed to a 68% reduction on 1990 emissions as a step towards this threshold following the Paris climate COP in 2015.
The second? To halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, made during the Montreal biodiversity COP in 2022.
These are bold pledges, guided by the science, and developed alongside 196 other nations. With both having 2030 deadlines, this Labour Government has the power to deliver them.
So, what’s the problem?
In a nutshell: we are not on track to meet either 2030 target. Our existing legislation is weak and government policy is not ambitious enough to bridge the gap.
This is where the CAN Bill comes in. Led by scientists, the Bill makes our international commitments legally-binding.
But why do we need it? The UK already has the Climate Change and Environment Acts. Are they not enough? Sadly, no.
Since the 2008 Climate Change Act was made, our understanding of the 1.5°C target has changed significantly. Sticking to these now outdated targets would leave the UK missing its international 2030 commitment (‘NDC’) by a third.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Environment Act is not strong enough either, as we have signed up to more ambitious global targets since, with the aim of reversing nature loss by 2030 (not just halting species populations decline by then).
So, the Labour Government is in a right old pickle, inheriting two ambitious commitments from the Conservatives with no legislative or policy framework to achieve them.
With more than 250 cross-party Parliamentarians already backing the CAN Bill, they know the UK has to keep its promises.
They also know enacting this Bill would achieve much of what ministers want to do; delivering warmer, better insulated homes, greener public transport and cleaner air and rivers.
So c’mon, Keir. Before the clock strikes midnight on 31 December, make this your New Year’s resolution.
Commit to ensuring that the UK achieves its 2030 climate and nature promises by backing, and not blocking, the CAN Bill when it comes to the House of Commons on Friday 24 January.
As New Year’s resolutions go, it’ll be much more historic than going to the gym.
In a nutshell: we are not on track to meet either 2030 target. Our existing legislation is weak and government policy is not ambitious enough to bridge the gap.
Dr George McGavin is a leading zoologist, entomologist, broadcaster and author. He is an Honorary Research Associate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
