Boris Johnson will “weaken” the international battle against climate change if the troubled United Nations summit being hosted by the UK is a failure, a former government environment adviser warned today.
Professor Tom Burke, who has advised three environment secretaries, warned that the stakes were high after it emerged that ex-premier David Cameron and former foreign secretary Lord Hague have both turned down appeals by the PM to act as summit president.
He told the Evening Standard that the apparent lack of preparation by the UK, which was highlighted by the sacking of Claire O’Neill as summit president, would have undermined confidence and made a deal more difficult.
Professor Burke said the sacking of Ms O’Neill was justified because she lacked “the Prime Minster’s ear and authority” but he asked: “Why on earth get Dominic Cummings, an aide, to phone someone up without warning and sack her in such a public way ... and without having a replacement ready?”
Boris Johnson & David Attenborough launch United Nations COP26
He said Mr Johnson should have been flanked by “a heavyweight politician” rather than broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough at yesterday’s launch event at the Science Museum.
“David Attenborough matters a lot to domestic audiences but I don’t think he carries a lot of clout with Xi or Merkel,” said Professor Burke, referring to Chinese president Xi Jinping and German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Britain hopes to attract 200 world leaders to the summit in November and for each to sign ambitious new commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
Professor Burke said the gathering would only succeed if a heavyweight figure was deployed “over the next three months” to negotiate a draft deal with China and the EU that other countries would then “come in behind”.
