PM invokes fall of the Roman Empire as he warns world faces uphill battle in climate fight
Boris Johnson on Friday warned that “team world” was “5-1” down at half-time in the fight to tackle global warming, as he implored world leaders to act now on the eve of two global gatherings of world leaders.
Speaking to journalists en route to the G20 in Rome, the prime minister acknowledged the scale of the task ahead but also stressed the alternative was apocalyptic and could consign future generations to shortages of food, conflict and mass migrations, all caused by global warming.
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Boris Johnson has said the success of the event was
“Humanity as a whole, at half-time, is about 5-1 down,” he told journalists.
“We have got a long way to go, but we can do it. We have the ability to equalise, to save the position, to come back, but it will take a huge amount of effort.”
Referencing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, Mr Johnson said: “Things can go backwards as well as forwards.
“Unless we get this right in tackling climate change we could see our civilisation, our world, also go backwards, and we could consign future generations to a life that is far less agreeable than our own.
“We could consign our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren to a life in which there are not only huge movements of populations and huge migrations, but also shortages of food, shortages of water, of conflict caused by climate change and there is absolutely no question that this is a reality that we must face.
“Look at evidence of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire if you doubt what I say, when Rome fell humanity became far less literate overall, people lost the ability to read and write, they lost the ability to draw properly, they lost the ability to build in the way the Romans did.
“Things can go backwards, and they can go backwards at a really terrifying speed.”
With 80% of all global emissions coming from the G20 group of industrialised countries, progress this week in Rome is seen as critical to the success of COP26, the annual climate summit in Glasgow which is meant to put in place national commitments from individual countries to hit emission targets of 2% and below by 2050.
Earlier this month, Alok Sharma, the UK’s COP president, challenged China, India and Saudi Arabia to deliver on G20 promises made months ago and come up with better formal targets in an interview with the Financial Times.
On the fight to Rome, the PM stressed progress was being made, with 17 nations of the G20 now committing to net-zero by 2050.
But two of the top three of the world’s largest emitters – China and India – have so far failed to commit to getting to net-zero by 2050.
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Fears over climate summit outcome
When I asked the PM whether he thought he could get China and India to ratchet up their commitments, he acknowledged the “big struggle” ahead to hit global emissions targets on the eve of the COP26 summit.
“Team world is up against a very formidable opponent in climate change, and we’ve got to a lot to do,” he said.
“It’s time to get out our oranges and get back on the pitch. It’s very tough, and we are going to have to see a lot of progress in the next few days from the countries mentioned.”
While China has drawn up a blueprint to reduced emissions, there is frustration from leaders that the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases – 27% of total in 2019 – isn’t going faster: China has committed to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and net-zero by 2060, but has indicated it is both unable and unwilling to move further.
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Can world leaders make COP26 a success?
US special envoy on climate change John Kerry has said the world will miss its global emissions targets unless this happens.
Mr Johnson, who spoke with President Xi on Friday, said he had pushed the Chinese leader to bring down the peak in emissions to 2025 and pressed him in phasing out coal.
“Where I was evangelical was the potential to move away from coal. He said China depends on it for our domestic economy. I said so many times from the UK moving from 80% dependency on coal for electricity to one percent today.
“I said when I came to see you in Beijing in 2008 we were 40% dependent on coal, and it shows how fast you can make the transition.”
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The PM said leaders “were not going to stop global warming in Rome or in this meeting in COP” but said he hopes to slow the increase.
He also said he was keen to accelerate the global approach.
“Is there a way to accelerate the way the world engages in this faster than the quinquennial [every five years] approach? The UK is very keen to look at that. It is a matter for the UN. It is a matter for the COP,” the PM said.
The PM also had a message for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the flight over to Rome: “India has done brilliantly on renewables – his solar alliance is fantastic, but we need to see more from the NDC [India’s plan to reduce emissions].”
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The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang has told Sky News the AI sector is a “long, long way” from a Big Short-style collapse.
Speaking outside Downing Street following a roundtable with government and other industry figures, the head of the world’s first $5tn company defended his sector from criticism by investor Michael Burry.
Mr Burry and his firm, Scion Capital, gained notoriety for “shorting” – betting against – the US housing market ahead of the 2008 financial crash.
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He was portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2015 film The Big Short, which also starred Steve Carell, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling.
Earlier this week, filings revealed Mr Burry has now bet against Nvidia and on social media, he has suggested there is a bubble in the sector.
Some $500bn was wiped off technology stocks overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Huang said: “I would say that we’re in the beginning of a very long build out of artificial intelligence.”
Christian Bale portrayed Michael Burry in the 2015 hit film. Pic: Reuters
Defending his company and investment, Mr Huang said AI is the first technology that requires “infrastructure to be built” and that Nvidia has seen “great returns” from AI, and that is why it is expanding.
Mr Huang said better training of AI has led to much “better” and “useful” answers, and that means “the AIs have become profitable”.
“When something is profitable, the suppliers want to make more of it, and that’s the reason the infrastructure build out is accelerating,” he added.
Pushed on whether he was worried about a situation like the Big Short, Mr Huang said: “We are long, long away from that.”
The UK government is betting big on AI in the hopes that it can save money by using it and generate growth by building the infrastructure to back it up.
Asked if she was worried about the market, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told Sky News: “I have no doubts that AI is going to transfer all parts of our economy and our public services.”
Mr Burry and his firm, Scion Capital’s bets against Nvidia and other companies were revealed by regulatory filings earlier this week.
The investor also posted on social media for the first time in more than two years, warning of a bubble.
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Concerns have been raised about the market surrounding AI, and the growth many companies are experiencing.
Nvidia is the largest producer of the specialist computer chips that are used to train and use AI models.
Politics
‘Hope won’: London mayor Sadiq Khan compares newly-elected New York mayor to his leadership
New York has followed London by choosing hope over fear in electing Democrat Zohran Mamdani as its new mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan said.
Mr Mamdani, 34, defeated former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to become the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first of South Asian heritage.
London mayor Sir Sadiq drew comparisons to his own 2016 victory as he congratulated Mr Mamdani, who will become New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on 1 January.
Sir Sadiq Khan. Pic: PA
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Sir Sadiq called it a “historic campaign”, adding on X: “New Yorkers faced a clear choice – between hope and fear – and just like we’ve seen in London – hope won.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also congratulated Mr Mamdani, telling Sky News: “I wish him well.
“It’s a wonderful job to have secured.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Mr Mamdani’s success “will resonate throughout the world” as he called it a “story where no one is left behind”.
“It’s time to write that story across England and Wales too,” he added.
Zohran Mamdani with his wife, Rama Duwaji. Pic Reuters
Mr Mamdani’s victory was a setback for Donald Trump, who had thrown his weight behind Andrew Cuomo, a former Democrat running as an independent.
The mayor-elect described himself as “Trump’s worst nightmare” and said New York had shown “a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him”.
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The US president had threatened to cut federal funding to New York if Mr Mamdani won.
In his victory speech, Mr Mamdani said: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Kemi Badenoch is calling for the government to “get Britain drilling again” – as Sir Keir Starmer heads to COP30.
The Tory leader has launched a joint campaign with the Scottish Conservatives to demand the moratorium on new oil and gas licences is lifted.
They are also calling on the chancellor to scrap the energy profits levy – an extra 38% tax on North Sea oil and gas profits – at the upcoming budget on 26 November.
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The Conservatives want the government to recognise that it believes gas will be a key part of the future energy mix to secure energy and lower bills to “deliver a stronger economy”.
They have launched the call to “get Britain drilling again” as the prime minister flies to Brazil for the COP30 summit after he reiterated the government’s dedication to clean energy goals and the UK’s role as a global climate leader on Tuesday.
He admitted COP30 would present a “challenge” due to slow global progress in cutting emissions, but said: “I’ve thought climate change has been our biggest challenge as a species for a very long number of years now.”
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Trump’s ambassador tells UK to drill for oil
Speaking on a visit to Aberdeen, Ms Badenoch said the UK, in particular northeast Scotland, is facing an oil and gas “emergency due to the anti-growth policies of the Labour government in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood”.
She warned the offshore oil and gas sector “risks disappearing altogether”, which she said would mean job losses in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and leave the country more reliant on overseas energy imports.
Ms Badenoch said: “Scotland, and the whole United Kingdom, faces a growing oil and gas emergency thanks to Labour’s inability to put our national interest first.
“By the end of Labour’s first term in office, it’s not inconceivable that Scotland’s oil and gas sector will be at serious risk, with domestic production currently set to half by 2030.
“That would be a shocking indictment of Labour’s energy policy, and a dangerous act of economic self-sabotage.
“Enough is enough. Keir Starmer must find the backbone to ditch Ed Miliband’s Net Zero fanaticism, which is forcing up bills and driving away industry.
“Instead, the prime minister should do what our economy needs, scrap the energy profits levy and end the moratorium on new licences in the North Sea.
“If the Labour government fails to act, we could be witness to the end of our domestic energy security as we know it.”
North Sea oil exploration platforms lie in the Cromerty Firth in northern Scotland in 2003. Pic: AP
A Labour Party spokesperson accused Ms Badenoch of “doubling down on the same failed Tory energy policy that caused the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation”.
“The Conservatives’ anti-growth, anti-jobs, anti-investment position on clean energy would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, leave Britain reliant on insecure expensive fossil fuels and lock families into higher bills for generations to come,” she added.
“It’s the same old Tories, with the same old policies. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”
There have been a series of oil and gas closures this year.
Grangemouth, Scotland’s only oil refinery, stopped processing crude oil after a century of operations in April, with 430 job losses.
The union Unite said political leaders had “utterly failed” the workers and would face “electoral wrath”, while the area’s Labour MP, Brian Leishman, said he was “disgusted” by the broken promises.
Harbour Energy, the UK’s largest oil and gas producer, cut 250 jobs in Aberdeen in May, blaming the government’s fiscal rules and regulations.
The Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire ended production in August, with 125 job losses, after the group went into administration and the government was unable to find a buyer.
In October, oil and gas contractor Petrofac, which employs about 2,000 people in Scotland, filed for administration, but its core operating subsidiaries and North Sea business have continued to trade as normal while it looks at restructuring or selling.
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