Sir Keir Starmer tells private sector to ‘start paying their fair share’ on global climate change
The prime minister has encouraged companies to start spending money on global climate change as he heads to the COP summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
On the trip to the Caspian coast, Sir Keir spoke to journalists travelling with him.
He was asked if the UK – which the government says is struggling financially – would commit to spending new money on helping developing countries with climate change.
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There have been calls for a $1tn (£777bn) financing agreement to help less wealthy nations reduce emissions and meet other targets.
Sir Keir told journalists his government would honour the monetary promises made at a previous COP summit under the Conservative government.
This current meeting – COP29 – will then “want to look at a future [climate finance] sum taking us through to 2035, but we’re not making UK commitments in relation to that”, he said.
Sir Keir added: “I will be making an argument powerfully that now is the time for the private sector to start paying their fair share in relation to these commitments.”
As part of this, a new “capital market mechanism” will be launched on the London Stock Exchange, with Downing Street hoping it will raise £75bn for green investment over the next decade.
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Sir Keir and the government want to take advantage of the surge in green investment as part of their economic growth strategy.
He told reporters he has been clear the “climate challenge” is a “huge opportunity for the UK if we get it right”.
“That is why we have made it one of our missions to have clean power by 2030, and if you look at the inward investment that we have triggered in the last four months, a huge amount of that is on renewables – that is where global investors want to put their investment.
“So I see climate change as an important obligation on which we’ve got to show leadership, but it’s also an incredible opportunity for the UK to get ahead on the world stage, and I am determined we are going to do that.”
Downing Street believes the UK can act as a green financial hub, and use that to bring investment, jobs and growth.
One report suggested the “green economy” grew by 9% last year, while the rest of the UK stagnated, and business urged a pro-green industrial strategy.
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The new government has started approving more projects like onshore windfarms and solar farms.
Increasing growth is key to the plan of Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – but their plans may be difficult to achieve if the economy does not expand at the rate they hope.
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Sir Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure over the small boats crisis after protests outside asylum hotels continued over the bank holiday weekend.
A poll suggested that voters believe the prime minister is failing to grip the problem, despite his government setting out measures to speed up removals.
It comes as Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer warned that “the far right feels emboldened and validated” by other political parties.
So far this year a record 28,076 people have made the perilous journey across the English Channel in small boats, 46% more than in the same period in 2024.
Like many other European countries, immigration has increasingly become a flashpoint in recent years as the UK deals with an influx of people fleeing war-torn and poorer countries seeking a better life.
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Asylum hotel protests swell in Norwich
Official figures released earlier this month showed a total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
There were 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels by the end of the same month.
Protests and counterprotests at sites housing asylum seekers continued over the weekend and the government is braced for further legal fights over the use of hotels.
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A YouGov poll for The Times found that 71% per cent of voters believe Sir Keir is handling the asylum hotel issue badly, including 56% of Labour supporters.
The survey of 2,153 people carried out on August 20-21 found 37% of voters viewed immigration and asylum as the most important issue facing the country, ahead of 25% who said the economy and 7% who said the health service.
Ms Denyer, who is MP for Bristol Central, condemned threats of violence in the charged atmosphere around immigration.
“The far right feels emboldened and validated by other political parties dancing to their tune.
“The abuse I’ve been sent has got noticeably worse in the last few months, escalating in some cases to violent threats, which are reported to the police.
“It doesn’t matter how much you disagree with someone, threats of violence are never, ever OK. And they won’t silence me.”
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Asylum hotels: Is the government caught in a trap?
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Curbing the power of judges in asylum cases to tackle the migrant hotel crisis is a typical Keir Starmer response to a problem.
The former director of public prosecutions would appear to see overhauling court procedures and the legal process as the answer to any tricky situation.
Yes, the proposed fast-track asylum appeals process is fine as far as it goes. But for a government confronted with a massive migrant crisis, opponents claim it’s mere tinkering.
And welcome and worthy as it is, it isn’t going to “smash the gangs”, stop the boats or act as a powerful deterrent to the people smugglers plying their trade in the Channel.
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