Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet minister who led the Cop26 climate summit last year, will remain in his post to lead international climate negotiations for the next few crucial months, despite the turmoil among his Downing Street neighbours.
Sharma, who operates from 9 Downing St, told the Guardian he was focused on continuing the work needed to cement the progress made at the UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last November.
Governments from around the world agreed in Glasgow to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, but more work is needed for countries to come up with the emissions cuts needed to achieve this goal.
Under the UN rules, the UK remains in charge of the international climate negotiations until the next conference of the parties (Cop), scheduled to take place in Egypt this November.
Sharma told the Guardian: “I am fully committed to this role up until the end of the UK presidency in November, and my focus remains on ensuring that countries deliver on the promises they made in signing up to the Glasgow climate pact. Political leaders and governments may change but our resolve to keep alive the ambition of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C must not. Action in this decade will determine the future of our planet.”
Sharma is now one of the longest serving cabinet ministers of this government, after the spate of resignations. Before taking on the Cop26 role full time in early 2021, he was business secretary, and previously international development secretary.
He has not endorsed any candidate in the leadership race. In a potential indication of how his role is viewed by the Tory party membership, he has frequently come bottom of the list of favourite cabinet ministers on the ConservativeHome website.
Sharma warned earlier this year that any watering down of commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions would be “an act of monstrous self-harm”, as governments debated a return to fossil fuels in the face of rising gas prices and the war in Ukraine.
International observers of climate politics have raised eyebrows at the disruption in Westminster over recent weeks, but this marked little new as the performance of Boris Johnson as prime minister in the lead-up to the Cop26 summit was also a source of exasperation.
The Guardian understands that the Egyptian government has taken note of the UK prime minister’s resignation, and that it might be discussed at a potential meeting of Egyptian officials with Sharma next week in Berlin.
Lord Adair Turner, the former chair of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, now chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, said the UK must follow through on its net zero commitments or risk its reputation for climate leadership on the world stage, gained at the Cop26 summit.
“It would be a catastrophic loss of international credibility, gained at Cop26 in Glasgow, to move away from our commitment to net zero. If the UK were to pull back on net zero [under a new prime minister], it would be a shock to our global reputation for consistent policy and for our responsibility in the world. I assume that [any dilution of net zero] will not happen,” he told the Guardian.
Tom Burke, co-founder of the green thinktank E3G, said the issue of a change of prime minister as the UK prepares to hand over the presidency should have little impact. “Cop27 was already in trouble, because of world events,” said Burke, referring to the war in Ukraine and rising fossil fuel prices, that have thrown climate policies into doubt in some countries.
He said the focus must be on the Egyptian hosts now, ahead of the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in four months’ time. “Cop27 is in the hands of the Egyptian government, just as Cop26 was for the UK government in the run-up to Glasgow. Alok Sharma has a lot of good will among governments around the world, but the ball is really in the hands of the Egyptians,” he said.
Expectations for Cop27 were already muted. Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European Commission, told the Guardian: “I don’t have the highest expectations for this by Sharm el-Sheikh because the conference in Bonn that was just finished clearly showed that there’s not much appetite in increasing [national climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions or] NDCs, and there is a lot of frustration in the developing world about the money that was promised and is not yet fully on the table.”
Some observers are concerned that the personal involvement of Boris Johnson may dampen the UK’s ability to assist a deal at Cop27. One noted that Johnson got on well personally with the Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, while another said the new UK leadership might “lack passion” compared with Johnson.
Bernice Lee, research director for futures at the Chatham House thinktank, said: “The good news is that Cop26 laid some of the groundwork. The bad news is that the world has got even more complicated over the past few months. Leadership from anyone and everyone, including the UK, is important.”
