Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first COP as UK leader to announce a climate security envoy and a private finance programme, according to the text of his speech to the COP31 climate summit published by GOV.UK.
Envoy and finance programme
Mr Burnham described climate change as a national security issue. As evidence, he said he was naming Dame Madeline Alessandri as Britain's inaugural special representative on climate security. He also announced UK backing for the Amplify programme, which he said targets 5 billion pounds in additional private-sector funding for clean energy schemes internationally. He argued the City of London is skilled at turning small amounts of public money into large private investment.
The case for electrification
The prime minister said he supports the summit's emphasis on electrification and gave three reasons, beginning with energy security. Depending on energy a country does not control, he argued, exposes it to prices it cannot control. He tied fossil fuel dependence to the wildfires that dominated his first three weeks in office, which he called the worst Britain has ever experienced, and to two wars on two continents that have driven up fuel and gas bills.
On costs, he said a new electric car in the UK now costs less than a petrol equivalent, and a heat pump on a suitable tariff can be cheaper to run than a gas boiler. He conceded that not everyone on every income can yet obtain these technologies. The government is investing in innovation and subsidising upfront costs, he said, and he urged industry to help people on all incomes.
Projects at home
Mr Burnham said the UK approved two large offshore wind schemes the day before his speech, which he said will draw billions in investment, supply electricity to millions of households and sustain thousands of jobs. He also cited a government-funded electric arc furnace in South Wales that he said will protect 5,000 steelworkers' jobs, and Rolls-Royce's export of small modular nuclear reactor technology.
G20 and wider pledges
Mr Burnham said the UK takes over the G20 presidency next year and will return climate resilience to the agenda, focusing on debt, development and insurance. He said the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting underlined the climate premium developing nations pay. He added that the UK will continue backing the protection of tropical forests and oceans.
He reaffirmed the UK's 2050 net zero target and said the world will now reach 1.5 degrees, adding that the earlier consensus on climate science has gone. He last attended a COP as Mayor of Greater Manchester, at COP26, and said progress in the five years since has been slower than he had hoped.
