Cop29: UK attempts to become global leader on climate with new emissions target for 2035

The United Kingdom has flagged its intention to become “a clean energy superpower” with the announcement at the UN climate talks in Azerbaijan by British prime minister Keir Starmer of a new national target to reduce its carbon emissions by 81 per cent before 2035.
The move is seen as a significant marker for G20 countries – including the world’s largest economies and biggest carbon emitters – and is considered among the most ambitious revised targets pledged by signatory countries to the Paris Agreement. All countries are due to increase climate targets before the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil next year.
It commits the UK to more rapid investments in renewable energy and to tackling the hardest parts of the pathway to net-zero emissions – transport, buildings and food – with scaled-up electrification, but also to investing heavily in carbon reduction technologies, which environmental groups say are unproven at scale.
Mr Starmer warned at the UN summit that “the path of inaction” on climate change would lead to global insecurity. The summit is being overshadowed by the re-election of Donald Trump and the threat of the US walking away from its environmental commitments.
Speaking before addressing the global leaders’ summit in Baku, Mr Starmer said: “The central most important thing for me here at Cop is … to continue to show UK leadership on climate at this critical time and we will continue to do so, to make sure that we are the enablers of the leveraging of private capital now towards the targets that need to be set.”
He added: “Everybody knows there is an energy transition. These things happen quite rarely, once in a generation usually … and the lesson from history is to go into that transition with a clear plan for a just outcome, but also to take advantage of being a first mover.”
Some environmental groups, however, questioned the UK approach. “Deeper cuts to emissions are welcome, but using carbon capture to meet the UK’s target is like bailing out a sinking ship with a gold-plated sieve. Starmer is handing billions in taxpayer cash to profit-rich oil companies for a technology [with] a 30-year track record of failure,” said Dominic Eagleton, a senior campaigner at Global Witness.
People forced to flee war, violence and persecution are increasingly finding themselves on the front line of the global climate crisis “exposing them to a lethal combination of threats but without the funding and support to adapt”, a report issued at Cop29 on Tuesday has found.
Released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN refugee agency, it shows how climate shocks are interacting with conflict, pushing those who are already in danger into even more dire situations.
Of the more than 120 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, three-quarters live in countries heavily affected by climate disruption, it says. Half are in places affected by conflict and serious climate hazards, such as Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.
By 2040, the number of countries facing extreme climate-related hazards is expected to rise from three to 65, it predicts; the vast majority of which host displaced people. Similarly, most refugee settlements and camps are projected to experience twice as many days of dangerous heat by 2050.
“For the world’s most vulnerable people, climate change is a harsh reality that profoundly affects their lives, compounding their plight and leaving them with nowhere safe to go,” said UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi.
The second day of Cop29 was boosted by initial allocations from wealthy countries to a new “loss and damage” fund set up to help climate-vulnerable countries and, separately, scaled-up commitments from large multilateral development banks.
Allocations to the fund, already totalling almost $800 million (€755 million), would help build momentum as parties work to reach a balanced package of outcomes at Cop29, said lead negotiator Mukhtar Babayev.
“This progress will allow us to finally turn pledges into real support. That means funding will be able to flow in 2025. We should reflect on what this breakthrough will mean for real people. It means houses being rebuilt, people being resettled, and lives and livelihoods saved,” the Cop29 president added.
“Now, the fund needs to identify projects to get support flowing. All countries that have pledged money must complete their contribution agreements. And we need more pledges so we can meet the urgent needs of climate change victims. Today demonstrated again the power of global solidarity in advancing climate action. We must keep the momentum to ensure that the fund reaches countries in need with urgency,” said Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the fund’s executive director.
Trócaire climate justice policy and advocacy adviser Sinéad Loughran said the fund needs to operate at an appropriate size and scale to deal with realities experienced in the Global South.
“It is disappointing to see the lack of pledges at the ironically titled ‘pledges to action’ event … Loss and damage is an issue that speaks to the heart of climate injustice. This means richer countries stepping up and paying their fair share. The fund cannot be an empty shell.
“The current level of pledges remains less than less than 0.2 per cent of the minimum estimated annual needs for loss and damage of $400 billion per year. The milestone commitment will be an empty promise if the fund remains chronically underfunded,” she added..
Ireland’s fair share of loss and damage climate finance is estimated to be at least €1.5 billion per year by 2030, she said. “Yet Ireland has only pledged €25 million for both 2024 and 2025, representing less than 1 per cent of its fair share. Furthermore, current pledges to the fund are part of existing climate finance commitments, a situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
This meant a reduction in the level of finance provided for other critically underfunded climate actions, Ms Loughran said. “A clear commitment by the next Government to scale up new and additional public finance to address loss and damage is crucial.”
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) said in a joint statement that by 2030, their annual collective climate financing for low- and middle-income countries would reach $120 billion, including $42 billion for adaptation, while MDBs aim to mobilise $65 billion from the private sector.