COP27: Rishi Sunak rebuffs predecessor Liz Truss with vow to get UK off polluting fossil fuels and turn it into a ‘clean energy superpower’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sworn to get the UK off polluting fossil fuels and on to more clean power in order to secure energy supplies, bucking claims by his predecessor Liz Truss that oil and gas expansion was vital.
Addressing world leaders at COP27 in Egypt on Monday, Mr Sunak will argue the “shock” to global energy markets triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underscores the need to move to cheaper, cleaner, safer energy sources.
Amid domestic economic woes, the PM had declined the invite to the biggest climate summit of the year.
But this week, Mr Sunak made a dramatic U-turn following intense criticism he was missing an environmental and geopolitical opportunity.
In a statement before his departure on Sunday for Sharm El-Sheikh on the Red Sea, Mr Sunak said fighting climate change is not just a “moral good” but “fundamental to our future prosperity and security”.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and contemptible manipulation of energy prices has only reinforced the importance of ending our dependence on fossil fuels,” he said.
Number 10 will hope the promise to make the UK a “clean energy superpower” smooths the way for negotiations at COP27, where almost 200 countries must each bring something to the table in the expectation others do the same.
Sunak ‘does not get’ scale of crisis
But the government is still mooting plans to issue more than 100 new licences for North Sea oil and gas extraction, initiated by Boris Johnson and pushed strongly by his successor, Ms Truss.
It has also further delayed a decision on whether to approve a new coal mine in Cumbria, expected on Monday but now pushed back until after COP27.
“We need to move further and faster to transition to renewable energy,” the PM added, although his team did not unveil details of funding or targets to facilitate the aim.
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COP27: World leaders due in Egypt
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Sunak “just does not get” the scale of the climate crisis.
Writing in The Observer, Sir Keir said: “Twelve years of the Conservatives has left our energy system exposed, bills rocketing, while failing to tackle the climate emergency.
“My Labour government will tackle the climate crisis by grasping the opportunities it presents.
“We’ll deliver clean power for 2030, and our publicly owned energy generator GB Energy will cut bills, secure our energy supplies, and create jobs.”
‘UK’s policies don’t match targets’
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Have we reached a climate tipping point?
Greenpeace UK said Mr Sunak’s speech might “make the right noises,” but the “hard currency of global climate diplomacy is actions, not words”.
“Not only do the UK’s policies completely fail to match up to its climate targets, but it has also failed to pay more than $300m promised to support developing countries deal with devastating climate impacts,” head of politics Rebecca Newsom told Sky News.
Speaking from Sharm El-Sheikh, she urged the PM to rule out new oil and gas drilling, and to invest in home insulation to cut energy demand.
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‘Tense divisive politics distracting from climate’
Mr Sunak’s rhetoric marks a shift from his predecessor, who aggressively sought to boost domestic fossil fuel production during her brief tenure. He has overturned the decision by Ms Truss to lift the ban on fracking for shale gas.
A report by leading energy NGO Global Energy Monitor warned handing out new permits to harvest oil and gas from the North Sea is incompatible with the UK’s goal to reach net-zero, which means slashing emissions as much as possible and offsetting the rest.
Many new projects approved this year would not start producing for several years, would sell the oil and gas on international markets, and still be in operation in the early-to-mid 2050s, risking decarbonisation goals as well as becoming stranded assets.
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New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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