Global race to zero summit: speech by Vicki Treadell
British High Commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell CMG, MVO, highlighted in her speech the UK's goals and plans to delivering the promise of the Paris Agreement.
In just 11 days global leaders from government, business and industry and civil society will gather in Glasgow for COP26.
The global community expects world leaders to unite, and, with one voice, and single shared ambition, deliver on the promise of the Paris Agreement.
In short, to deliver our collective commitment to do all we can to limit global temperature rises to well below 2 degrees and closer to 1.5 degrees.
So, our approach for COP26 is centred around four core goals:
- mitigation: securing global net zero & keep 1.5 degrees within reach
- adaptation: adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
- finance: mobilise finance to assist developing countries, securing $100billion per year in climate finance through to 2025
- collaboration: work together to accelerate action
This is therefore not a time for division. This should be a time for all of us to share a vision and single purpose for our economic security, for our people, for our planet, for our future, for generations yet to come.
UK COP President Alok Sharma said at the G20 “We hold in our hands the keys to our children’s future”.
Since the Paris Agreement was put in place, global emissions have gone up, not down.
So, as COP26 President, the UK has a responsibility to help deliver on the Paris Agreement.
At Glasgow one of our goals is to keep 1.5 degrees alive. All of us, whether governments or business, need to bring commitments, targets and policies that keep this within reach.
Already temperatures have risen at least 1.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels and the science says to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees we need global emissions to halve this decade and reach net-zero by mid-century at the latest.
Globally a million species face extinction if this trajectory is not secured. Beyond this, the impact on our economies, our health, our security should not be under-estimated.
The eyes of the world are on us.
I shan’t rehearse here what we are already seeing climatically all around us whether wildfires raging, unprecedented floods, water supplies running dry or increasing cyclones. The impact on coastal and farming communities is already evident.
Yes, climate change is not new. But our impact as a species has hastened change at a pace that nature has not been able to adjust to. So it is for us, humankind, to make the interventions necessary for the world to rebalance. The fact is the economic impact is already felt.
But this is a story of economic opportunity. This is a story of hope. This is a story of a better future.
COP26 can herald a new industrial age with a promise greater than the last industrial age, with a promise of prosperity and opportunity for all, a better future built on new, renewable and greener technology.
This new industrial age has already begun.
This is a story we are writing now, every nation can contribute to this story and shape each chapter for themselves.
But like all good stories that grip and excite and carry you, we need a great beginning – COP26 in Glasgow is that, the ambition we set is the start of a new journey.
We need a mid point in our narrative and that is why where we are by 2030-2035 matters:
- a point at which we will know whether we are on our way
- a point when we can measure how we are doing, when we can be certain we are where we need to be for the ongoing journey ahead
- a point when we can reflect and adjust our plans in the light of our experience and what we have achieved at that point
We need a great end, to achieve the conclusion we seek, and that is net zero by 2050.
This is not about our words or signing up to a target for targets sake. This is about our actions. It is about the “how” we do this. It is about our plans and the investment to achieve it.
So, for us in the UK, in the last day, we held our Global Investment Summit and we launched our Net Zero Strategy.
As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the summit:
…there is a force out there stronger than government. And actually a force that is stronger than business. And that force is consumer choice. That force is the market. And the market is going green. And people know that we have the technological solutions to these problems and they want to go green.
So, for us, COP26 is also the moment when government joins hands with the private sector.
Together with the MDBs, the IMF, the World Bank, we should be setting the parameters, the strike prices, the contracts for difference for green technology.
Capital markets are already taking these decisions. Investment decisions are being taken where there is certainty. Our Net Zero Strategy provides that certainty and sets out how the UK will secure 440,000 well-paid jobs and unlock £90 billion in investment by 2030 on our path to ending our contribution to climate change by achieving net zero by 2050.
Our new strategy builds on the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan, setting out a comprehensive economy-wide plan for how British businesses and consumers will be supported in making the transition to clean energy and green technology – lowering our reliance on fossil fuels by investing in sustainable clean energy in the UK, reducing the risk of high and volatile prices – as we are seeing now - in the future, and so strengthening our energy security.
Our plans include:
- an extra £350 million of our up to £1 billion commitment to support the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains and another £620 million for targeted electric vehicle grants and infrastructure
- work to kick-start the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from sustainable materials
- a £140 million Industrial and Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme to accelerate industrial carbon capture and hydrogen, bridging the gap between industrial energy costs from gas and hydrogen and helping green hydrogen projects get off the ground
- an extra £500 million towards innovation projects to develop the green technologies of the future, bringing the total funding for net zero research and innovation to at least £1.5 billion
- £3.9 billion of new funding for decarbonising heat and buildings, including the new £450 million 3-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme, so homes and buildings are warmer, cheaper to heat and cleaner to run
- £124 million boost to our Nature for Climate Fund helping us towards meeting our commitments to restore approximately 280,000 hectares of peat in England by 2050 and treble woodland creation in England to meet our commitments to create at least 30,000 hectares of woodland per year across the UK by the end of this parliament
- £120 million towards the development of nuclear projects through the Future Nuclear Enabling Fund. There remain a number of optimal sites, including the Wylfa site in Anglesey. Funding like this could support our path to decarbonising the UK’s electricity system fifteen years earlier from 2050 to 2035
The policies and spending brought forward in the Net Zero Strategy mean that since the Ten Point Plan, we have mobilised £26 billion of government capital investment for the green industrial revolution.
More than £5.8 billion of foreign investment in green projects has also been secured since the launch of the Ten Point Plan, along with at least 56,000 jobs in the UK’s clean industries – and another 18 deals have been set out at the Global Investment Summit to support growth in vital sectors such as wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture and storage.
As the first major economy to commit in law to net zero by 2050 and hosts of the historic UN COP26 climate summit, the UK is leading international efforts and setting the bar for countries around the world to follow. The UK has hit every carbon budget to date - our Net Zero Strategy sets out clear policies and proposals for meeting our fourth and fifth carbon budgets, and keeps us on track for carbon budget 6, whilst our ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), sets out a vision for a decarbonised economy in 2050.
No one says the journey will be easy but we have embarked on it with purpose. We will learn and evolve as we go.
We look forward to welcoming the world to Glasgow in 11 days time.
We look forward to developing the partnerships we need to deliver on what we agree at Glasgow.