Some progress made at COP26 but 'not yet nearly enough,' says UK Labour Party's Ed Miliband

GLASGOW, Scotland

Some progress has been made at the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, but “it is not yet nearly enough,” according to the British Labour Party shadow secretary of state for business, energy, and industry.

“We know what we need to do, which is to halve global emissions this decade between now and 2030,” said Ed Miliband.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency at the COP26, Miliband, who led the main opposition Labour from 2010 to 2015, said: “We know the pledges that have been made add up to much less than that.”

“So we've got to make sure that every country, particularly the big countries, feel the pressure to do more and close this gap because that's what we need to do to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees,” he explained.

Such action is "essential," he said, “if we're to avoid dangerous heat waves, flooding, drought, people displaced as a result of climate, the destruction of our natural wonders.”

Miliband underlined that “we know how high and important the stakes are.”

“And we know countries need to act and to do more than they're doing at the moment,” he warned.

Holding government accountable

Asked about recent reports that the Britain is mulling opening up a new coal mine in the northwestern Cumbria region, Miliband said the UK needs to show that it is committed to fight climate change.

“The UK has good pledges about what it wants to do internationally by 2030 in terms of its action, but it has done some things in the last two years which have not been good in terms of showing that we are true about our climate commitments,” he said.

“So we have looked at the idea of a new coal mine, but we want people to go past coal.

He mentioned other moves that seem at odds with the country’s climate commitments, saying: “We're doing a trade deal with Australia, where we're saying that they can be softer on their temperature commitments, and we cut overseas development aid, which I think was the wrong decision.”

“So we support the government in wanting COP26 to be a success, but we will hold them to account on their failure to carry through on their good intentions in the actual delivery of what they're doing,” he stressed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday evening, as world leaders were concluding a two-day visit to COP26, that the biggest-ever public fund to fight climate change was raised through pledges.

He said: “Ninety percent of the world has now signed up to net zero, including India.”

“We will keep working with world leaders to get to net zero sooner.”

The climate conference will continue through Nov. 12 with numerous panels, meetings, and side events, all looking for remedies to reduce the levels of global warming by keeping it to 1.5C.