Donald Trump can’t “stop” the battle to save the planet, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is claiming.
The Cabinet minister said countries and businesses around the globe were “getting on with this transition” to green economies.
However, Trump’s election victory was a key talking point at the Cop29 climate change summit in Azerbaijan.
“It would be wrong to say that the US election is not discussed but I think what is so striking about what is happening here is that whether you talk to business or other countries, people are getting on with this transition,” Mr Miliband told Sky News.
“This is an unstoppable transition and the reason is and the reason I’m here is that this is in our national self-interest as a country.
“This is about jobs, it’s about energy security, it’s about lower energy bills and it’s about taking the action to protect future generations.
“So, obviously what different countries including the US do is of absolute relevance here but I think the overwhelming sense I get is that people are pressing on with this transition because it’s in their national self-interest.”
Cop summits, though, have a tendency to be moments where nations come together and hail progress in the battle against climate change while failing to deliver enough action to stop what scientists say is catastrophic global warming set to hit the planet within decades.
The latest gathering in Baku was notable by the absence of many world leaders including Joe Biden, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
Record temperatures are already being recorded, with changes to weather patterns including more flooding, most recently in Spain.
Sir Keir Starmer was on Tuesday expected to set the goal for the UK to reduce emissions by 81% compared with 1990 levels by 2035, in line with the recommendation of the UK Climate Change Committee, as he seeks to put Britain at the forefront of efforts to address global warming.
The Prime Minister said a key part of the process would be Labour’s promise to shift away from fossil fuels for electricity generation by 2030, but critics have argued that lifestyle changes will be required to meet strict emissions reduction targets.
Sir Keir insisted he would not be “telling people how to live their lives” as part of plans to reach the UK’s new emissions reduction target.
“It will be ambitious, and that’s measured not by telling people what to do,” he said as he headed to the summit in Baku.
“It’s measured by making sure that we get to clean power by 2030 - that’s the single most important target on the way to the emissions.”
However, the re-election of Trump is a blow to efforts to tackle global warming as he is expected to boost fossil fuels, roll back green incentives domestically and pull his country out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement again.
In what may be seen as optimistic thinking, Mr Miliband, though, said the UK would seek to find "common ground" with Trump on climate change.
The Energy Security Secretary suggested the US president-elect, who has described climate change as a "hoax", could be swayed by the economic arguments for shifting to green power.
At the COP summit, wealthier countries are facing pressure over delivering finance to help poor countries cope with climate change, and increasing their ambitions on emissions cuts.
One hundred billion dollars (£77 billion) a year was pledged in private and public finance to help poorer nations, as part of efforts to secure the Paris treaty negotiated in 2015.
But wealthier nations must now iron out a new finance agreement that meets the Paris commitments for sufficient cash flows for cutting emissions and adapting to climate change, with experts saying one trillion US dollars needs to be flowing into developing countries each year by 2030.
The Government is also launching a new CIF Capital Market Mechanism on the London Stock Exchange which it says could mobilise up to 75 billion dollars (£58 billion) in additional climate capital for developing countries over the next decade.
“I will be making an argument powerfully that now is the time for the private sector to start paying their fair share in relation to these commitments,” Sir Keir said.
He said they would be launching the initiative because “I think it’s high time the private sector played their part in this”.
