UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced this week that he would take part in next month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil, ending weeks of speculation about his attendance just as his country’s climate consensus appears to fracture.
The announcement came as Britain’s two main right-wing parties disavowed themselves of the country’s nearly two-decade-old climate legislation, which committed the UK to net-zero emissions by 2050: Reform, the anti-immigration party that now tops opinion polls, has threatened to cancel previously agreed contracts for clean energy, and its leader has disputed the scientific consensus that climate change has been accelerated by human activity; the Conservatives — who led the government from 2010 through last year — have pledged to scrap the act, which they put into law, entirely.
Yet recent polling suggests the political shift doesn’t reflect public sentiment: A majority of UK voters across all parties still support renewables and policies that promote climate action. “The consensus around the need for renewables remains intact,” said James Alexander, CEO of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. “It’s not a polarizing issue for most people in Britain.”