Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are on a collision course over the climate crisis after the prime minister on Tuesday positioned himself as the international leader on attempting to achieve net zero.
The PM used his voice as one of the only world leaders from the G20 nations to attend the Cop29 climate conference in Baku to announce that carbon emissions in the UK will be slashed by 81 per cent by 2035.
But it came as president-elect Trump indicated that he would be taking the US in the opposite direction with the controversial appointment of Lee Zeldin to lead the US Environment Protection Agency.
There are serious concerns that Mr Trump will now walk away from the Paris climate accord as he did in his first term.
The former congressman Mr Zeldin, a longstanding critic of net zero policies, will be tasked with stripping away environmental rules and regulations introduced by Joe Biden’s administration.
Speaking at the conference, Sir Keir refused to directly attack any government leader for avoiding the conference and he no directly criticise Mr Trump. But he said: “We are here to show leadership.”
He made it clear that he wants London to become the green finance capital of the world and for the UK to be at the forefront of new green technology.
The new goal on reducing carbon emissions is in line with the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee, the UK’s climate watchdog.
This target is based on reducing emissions compared with 1990 levels and forms the UK's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – a commitment that countries make to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.
Setting the UK’s greenhouse gas emission target, Sir Keir said: “The race is on for the clean energy jobs of the future, the economy of tomorrow.
“I don’t want to be in the middle of the pack, I want to get ahead of the game.”
He told reporters at the audience in Baku: “At this Cop I was pleased to announce that we are building on our reputation as a climate leader with the UK’s 2035 NDC target to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81 per cent on 1990 levels.
“But a global problem also requires global partnership, responsible international cooperation, which is why we took the opportunity at this Cop to again urge all parties to come forward with ambitious targets of their own.”
Sir Keir’s pledge has been hailed as a “strong signal to the international community” despite many of the UK’s international allies failing to attend the summit.
Nick Mabey, co-CEO of climate think tank E3G, said: “By committing to this target... the UK is stepping up as a climate frontrunner at a time when such leadership is critically needed.”
Dr Caterina Brandmayr, director of policy and translation at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, part of Imperial College London, said this is “exactly what the world needs right now”.
“The UK’s NDC sends a strong signal to the international community as the Cop29 negotiations get underway and motivates other countries to come forward with ambitious NDCs,” she added.
Mr Zeldin, 44, took to X (formerly Twitter) to try to allay fears about his appointment.
“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalise our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
Mr Zeldin is a Trump ally and ran a close race for New York governor in 2022, before being narrowly defeated by Democrat Kathy Hochul.
There are concerns about a comment he made in 2014 when he said that he was “not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as serious a problem as other people are” regarding climate change.
UK energy secretary Ed Miliband, who cancelled oil and gas contracts in the North Sea in his first week in office, was more optimistic about relations with the Trump administration on this issue.
He told reporters: “We will seek to find common ground with Donald Trump, he will make his own decisions about what he wants to do. I obviously want him to stay in the Paris climate agreement, but that's his decision.”
But former Tory cabinet minister Alok Sharma, who was president of Cop26, warned: “If the new Trump administration decides to walk away from the Paris Agreement for a second time and retreats from climate leadership, I hope other nations will step forward to try to fill some of the breach, including the new UK government.”
