THE British government must go beyond the compromise deal agreed at Cop28 to meet crucial climate targets, campaigners and MPs demanded today.
It came as climate minister Graham Stuart denied that his temporary absence from the climate summit negotiations during its most critical stage meant Britain was not playing a major part in the talks.
Mr Stuart had flown from his Dubai trip to help push through the government’s Rwanda Bill in the House of Commons, which many Tory MPs had threatened to derail.
He arrived back in time for the final agreement to be approved, which he hailed as a “historic moment.”
Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter called the agreement a “disappointing compromise,” and said it “falls far short of the fair and equitable phase out of fossil fuels that the climate crisis demands and offers market solutions that will only reinforce global inequalities.”
He said: “The world is burning and we need governments at every level in the UK to ramp-up ambitions and action at the scale and pace needed.
“Seeing Graham Stuart flying back to London during the final crucial stages of the Cop negotiations to vote on the cynical and performative Rwanda Bill showed the world a Conservative government more concerned with its own internal power games than the future of the planet.”
Mr Slaughter said that the agreement also fails to address the need for a loss and damage fund, adding: “Climate justice demands that the richer nations provide sufficient funding to support poorer countries through the climate crisis and the necessary transition.
Scottish Greens climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “While the final text of this deal is a step forward, it is clear this has only been agreed through gritted teeth to allow the hosts to save face.
“It is deeply troubling how much influence and pressure that the big petrostates with financial muscle bring to bear on these talks, compared with those nations who are on the front line of the climate crisis.”
Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband hit out at the Tory government’s absence during the negotiations.
Ahead of the agreement, ActionAid UK’s Zahra Hdidou called the text “a catastrophe for many climate-stricken communities in the global South and a shocking abdication of duty from major polluters.”
