World on the brink of ‘catastrophe’ as extreme weather events pile up, UK’s climate chief warns

Published

4 years ago

August 7, 2021

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Urgent action is needed to address climate change or the world will soon face “catastrophe”, the UK’s COP26 chief has warned.

With just 85 days until the climate conference in Glasgow, minister Alok Sharma told the Observer that failing to act would have “catastrophic” consequences.

“I don’t think there’s any other word for it,” said Mr Sharma, who is president of November’s talks.

“You’re seeing on a daily basis what is happening across the world. Last year was the hottest on record, the last decade the hottest decade on record.”

Mr Sharma’s comments come just days before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science, publishes a report showing how close humanity is to the brink of a potentially irreversible disaster.

“This is going to be the starkest warning yet that human behaviour is alarmingly accelerating global warming and this is why COP26 has to be the moment we get this right,” he said.

“We can’t afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years – this is the moment.

“I don’t think we’re out of time but I think we’re getting dangerously close to when we might be out of time.

“We will see [from the IPCC] a very, very clear warning that unless we act now, we will, unfortunately, be out of time.”

The consequences of climate change have been evident in recent months, with extreme weather affecting several countries around the world.

In the last month, wildfires have ravaged through southern Europe – forcing thousands from their homes across Greece, Turkey and Italy – and other countries on the continent, notably Germany and Belgium, have experienced devastating flooding.

Elsewhere, Greenville, a Gold Rush town in California, was flattened by fires – and 25 people died after unprecedented rainfall caused severe flooding in China.

Mr Sharma said that climate change is about people’s lives and “comes down to the very real human impact this is having across the world”.

“I’ve visited communities that as a result of climate change have literally had to flee their homes and move because of a combination of drought and flooding,” he said.

Mr Sharma is tasked with persuading countries including China, India, Russia, Australia and Brazil to make concrete commitments and policies to cut emissions, while trying to persuade the UK, European Union and other wealthy nations to meet a pledge of £100bn a year in climate finance for the developing world.

He has been travelling to several countries to hold talks with key stakeholders ahead of COP26 in November.

But earlier this week he was criticised by green campaigners and the Labour Party, after it emerged that he had travelled to 30 countries this year – including seven on the red list – and did not self-isolate upon his return home because of a ministerial exemption.

Labour MP David Lammy said the reports of Mr Sharma flying tens of thousands of miles during a pandemic are “worrying” and demonstrate that “it is one rule for them, another for us”.

But Mr Sharma has defended his trips, saying that he was “throwing the kitchen sink” at efforts to reach a deal.

“I have every week a large number of virtual meetings, but I can tell you that having in-person meetings with individual ministers is incredibly vital and actually impactful,” he said.

“It makes a vital difference, to build those personal relationships which are going to be incredibly important as we look to build consensus.”

Analysis by Rob Powell, political correspondent

The stakes will be raised again this week when the IPCC lays out the practical impact climate change will have on the world.

But the political and diplomatic challenge for the UK government will be heightened as well, ahead of a crucial few months for Boris Johnson’s green agenda.

November’s COP26 summit is a key moment for the UK to show it can achieve meaningful international commitments on global warming.

Amid recent rumblings that the Glasgow conference could go off half-cock, Alok Sharma will hope his rabble-rousing warning – combined with a stark UN report due on Monday – will begin to focus minds around the world.

There are also domestic climate battle to be fought though.

September will see the government set out how the UK will lead by example and reach net zero by 2050.

That is already causing some political friction with voices within the Conservative Party worried at how much a shift to a greener way of living will cost the taxpayer.

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Mr Sharma also told the newspaper that the UK could carry on fossil fuel projects, after criticism over plans to license new oil and gas fields.

Green campaigners have warned that the UK is losing credibility on a world stage after ministers supported the new Cambo oilfield and other North Sea exploration licences were opened earlier this year.

The decisions were made despite warnings from the International Energy Agency, a global energy watchdog, in May that new fossil fuel exploration must cease this year.

But Mr Sharma said new fossil fuel licenses will have climate checks.

He said: “Future [fossil fuel] licences are going to have to adhere to the fact we have committed to go to net-zero by 2050 in legislation. There will be a climate check on any licences.”

Politics

PM issues warning to European leaders ahead of ECHR talks

Published

8 mins ago

December 10, 2025

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PM issues warning to European leaders ahead of ECHR talks

Sir Keir Starmer has called for a tougher approach to policing Europe’s borders ahead of a meeting between leaders to discuss a potential shake-up of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The prime minister said the way in which the ECHR is interpreted in courts must be modernised, with critics long claiming the charter is a major barrier to deportations of illegal migrants.

His deputy, David Lammy, will today be in Strasbourg, France, with fellow European ministers to discuss reforms of how the agreement is interpreted in law across the continent.

In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Sir Keir and his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, said the change was necessary to prevent voters from turning to populist political opponents.

What’s the issue with the ECHR?

The ECHR, which is the foundation of Britain’s Human Rights Act, includes the right to family life in its Article 8.

That is often used as grounds to prevent deportations of illegal migrants from the UK.

There has also been a rise in cases where Article 3 rights, prohibiting torture, were used to halt deportations over claims migrants’ healthcare needs could not be met in their home country, according to the Home Office.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have both said they would leave the ECHR if in power, while the Labour government has insisted it will remain a member of the treaty.

But Sir Keir admitted in his joint op-ed that the “current asylum framework was created for another era”.

“In a world with mass mobility, yesterday’s answers do not work. We will always protect those fleeing war and terror – but the world has changed, and asylum systems must change with it,” the two prime ministers wrote, as they push for a “modernisation of the interpretation” of the ECHR.

What is happening today?

Mr Lammy is attending an informal summit of the Council of Europe.

He is expected to say: “We must strike a careful balance between individual rights and the public’s interest.

“The definition of ‘family life’ can’t be stretched to prevent the removal of people with no right to remain in the country [and] the threshold of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ must be constrained to the most serious issues.”

It is understood that a political declaration signed by the gathered ministers could carry enough weight to directly influence how the European Court of Human Rights interprets the treaty.

The UK government is expected to bring forward its own legislation to change how Article 8 is interpreted in UK courts, and is also considering a re-evaluation of the threshold for Article 3 rights.

The plans have been criticised by Amnesty International UK, which described them as weakening protections.

“Human rights were never meant to be optional or reserved for comfortable and secure times. They were designed to be a compass, our conscience, when the politics of fear and division try to steer us wrong,” Steve Valdez-Symonds, the organisation’s refugee and migrant rights programme director, said.

Sir Keir’s government has already adopted several hardline immigration measures – modelled on those introduced by Ms Federiksen’s Danish government – to decrease the number of migrants crossing the Channel via small boats.

Starmer-Macron deal ‘a sticking plaster’

Meanwhile, French far-right leader Jordan Bardella told The Daily Telegraph he would rewrite his country’s border policy to allow British patrol boats to push back small vessels carrying migrants into France’s waters if he were elected.

The National Rally leader called Sir Keir’s “one-in, one-out” agreement with Emmanuel Macron, which includes Britain returning illegal arrivals in exchange for accepting a matching number of legitimate asylum seekers, a “sticking plaster” and “smokescreen”.

He said that only a complete overhaul of French immigration policy would stop the Channel crossings.

Mr Bardella is currently leading in opinion polls to win the first round of France’s next presidential election, expected to happen in 2027, to replace Mr Macron.

Politics

Trump to begin interviews with Fed chair finalists this week: FT

Published

3 hours ago

December 10, 2025

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Trump to begin interviews with Fed chair finalists this week: FT

The race for the new US Federal Reserve chair is nearing the finish line, with US President Donald Trump reportedly set to begin interviewing finalists for the top job this week.

According to a report from the Financial Times on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has presented a list of four names to the White House.

One of these is former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, whom Bessent is scheduled to meet with on Wednesday. Another is National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, who is seen as the frontrunner for the role.

Another two names would be picked from a list of other finalists, which includes Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, and BlackRock chief investment officer Rick Rieder.

Trump and Bessent are expected to hold at least one interview next week, as a decision looks likely to be announced in January.

However, Trump has revealed he already has his eye on one particular candidate.

“We’re going to be looking at a couple different people, but I have a pretty good idea of who I want,” Trump said to journalists on Air Force One on Tuesday.

Kevin Hassett is a frontrunner for Fed chair role

The upcoming round of interviews suggests that Hassett may not be the clear lock in for the role as previously thought, though he is seen as the favorite.

Earlier this month, prediction market odds on Kalshi and Polymarket shot up for Hassett significantly following comments from Trump at the White House on Dec. 2.

While welcoming guests, Trump labeled Hassett as “potential Fed chair” leading many to assume the president had let a major hint slip.

With Hassett’s odds spiking to 85% after Trump’s comments last week, they have since declined to around 73% for Hassett, while Warsh’s odds sit at 13% on Kalshi at the time of writing, which has floated around this range over December.