UK faces climate hypocrisy claims at Cop31 over North Sea gas

Andy Burnham and his team are braced to receive flak from several countries at the Cop31 UN climate talks this week, following the government’s decision to expand drilling for gas in the North Sea. Diplomats from other countries have raised concerns about the Jackdaw gasfield and the ministerial decision-making over Rosebank in the North Atlantic, the largest reservoir of untapped fossil fuels in UK waters, seeking assurances that the UK remains committed to climate goals, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

The decision to expand drilling raises uncomfortable questions for Burnham as he joins more than 80,000 diplomats, business lobbyists and campaigners for the climate talks in the Turkish city of Antalya from 9-20 November. Human rights groups are also pressing Burnham to advocate for political prisoners when he meets Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the summit. The annual negotiations are always a tough affair – pitting countries pushing for emissions cuts against stalwart defenders of fossil fuels, splitting rich nations from poor ones over flows of climate finance.

But this year, the UK faces accusations of making a U-turn from climate leadership over the decision to approve drilling. While Britain is urging other countries to accelerate the transition to clean energy, it is drawing on its own homegrown reserves of fossil fuels. Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, who was Panama’s special representative for climate change until July, told The Observer : “The UK has positioned itself as a forward-thinking progressive, climate-leaning power at a time when other powers have backed out.

You cannot preach about fossil fuels and then start drilling.” Related articles: The Jackdaw gasfield decision ranks heating homes over global heating Lancet global health report understates threat of climate change, experts say Monterrey Gómez said the negotiations hinged on trust. He said: “A lot of the breakthroughs have to do with the fact that a couple of negotiators trust each other and are able to speak more openly on the spectrum of options they have.

“The UK team will have a harder time because of the decisions of their government.” China, both the world’s largest carbon polluter and the largest manufacturer of clean energy products, has accused western countries of double standards over the energy transition. Li Shuo, an expert on Chinese climate policy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said: “China increasingly sees climate hypocrisies around the world and has pointed them out in recent years.”

Announcing the Jackdaw decision, ministers acknowledged that it was likely to make life harder in international negotiations. The energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said in a statement that she was aware of concerns about the implications for the UK’s “credibility and influence”, but she said the UK’s wider record on climate action remained significant. ‘China increasingly sees climate hypocrisies around the world and has pointed them out in recent years’ ‘China increasingly sees climate hypocrisies around the world and has pointed them out in recent years’ Li Shuo, Asia Society Policy Institute Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK have been dropping steadily since 1990.

But the Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, says the slow pace of electrification in areas including transport and household heating is putting the country’s climate targets at risk. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We are the first major G7 oil and gas producer to end new licences to explore new oil and gasfields. “Countries are still looking to the UK for climate leadership because we’ve halved our emissions since 1990, have one of the world’s most ambitious plans to transition away from fossil fuels and continue to roll out clean energy at scale.”

This year’s COP is likely to be more fraught than ever, as it happens in the shadow of a UN report acknowledging that within the next few years the planet is likely to exceed 1.5C of warming above pre-industrial temperatures. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries had pledged to keep warming “well below” 2C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C, a threshold critical to the survival of many low-lying island states . In recent years, the flow of finance from wealthy countries to help poorer ones adapt to the effects of climate change has declined as governments prioritise defence spending.

Meanwhile, countries face escalating climate-related shocks including the recent glacial collapse and flooding in Nepal , where the estimated cost of recovery is estimated to be $5bn. The location of Cop31 comes with both opportunities and difficulties for the UK, which enjoys good relations with its Nato ally. However, Amnesty International has warned that the UK cannot ignore the repressive nature of the host government. Milena Buyum, a senior campaigner at Amnesty urged Burnham to take up the case of the imprisoned campaigner Osman Kavala, who has been in jail for nine years serving a life sentence for charges relating to protests across the country in 2013.

In August, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to immediately release Kavala. “Leaders attending Cop31, including Andy Burnham, should urge Turkey to release Osman Kavala immediately and unconditionally,” Buyum said. She also highlighted the ongoing arrests and imprisonment of lawyers, journalists, activists and LGBTQ+ people. This raised concerns about the freedom to protest around the climate conference. These have typically been a feature of the annual events, but recent Cops in the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Egypt heavily curtailed those marches.

“The authorities in Turkey must ensure those organising and participating in peaceful protest are able to do so,” said Buyum. What are your thoughts on this? Email us at letters@observer.co.uk Photograph by Krisztián Elek / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images Climate Environment Andy Burnham Fossil fuels Gas