Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey is expected to use a keynote speech to urge the Prime Minister to appoint an expert-led scrutiny committee to oversee the global COP26 climate summit in Glasgow later this year.
The call from the former Secretary for State for Energy and Climate Change follows increased fears for the summit after sacked COP26 President Claire O’Neill accused the Prime Minister of a “failure of global vision and leadership” on climate change.
Ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle, where it has been reported a replacement for Claire O’Neill will be appointed, Ed Davey will use a lecture at Berkbeck College [13/02/2020] to set out proposals for a COP26 scrutiny commitment made up of charities, NGOs and parliamentarians from across the devolved governments.
Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey is expected to say: “While demonstrating climate leadership at home – walking the walk – is a necessary condition for global climate leadership, it is clearly not sufficient. To convince the world to follow such a pathway, Britain has to convince world leaders that the climate pathway could work politically for them too. Over the past few months and weeks it is absolutely clear that the Conservative Government left their own devices simply will not do this.
“At COP this year in Glasgow is the most important global gathering since Paris in 2015. The UK as host has the chance to map out a new global approach to the climate emergency for the next decade.
“We must harness that impatience to empower Glasgow’s COP to address the climate emergency with urgency – but that will require a new political approach.
“We must fling open the doors of the UN’s climate talks to different voices – the campaigners, the NGOs, the charities and a cross-section of politicians – especially those who do not happen to sit behind a mop of blond hair and a despatch box.
“Those new voices – from civil society and politicians from political parties across the parliaments and assemblies in our family of nations – must play a much bigger and a much more serious role in scrutinising this Government’s approach to Glasgow’s COP. Before, during and after.”