Starmer touts UK climate leadership but resists call for more public finance

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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer resisted the call for more public finance to deal with climate change, saying it “on its own will not be enough” and pressed for a greater contribution from the private sector, as countries clash over calls for $1tn in funding at the COP29 summit in Baku.

Starmer is among the more prominent world leaders in Azerbaijan alongside the host, President Ilham Aliyev, Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to address the summit over the next two days.

The UK is taking the lead on climate among the G7 nations at COP29, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week offered his regrets at his absence, joining the leaders of France, Japan and Canada in failing to attend.

Starmer launched a new UK goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, in line with recommendations from an independent committee. This is slightly up on the 78 per cent target set by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government three years ago ahead of the COP26 in Glasgow.

The big battle at the summit remains to secure a new climate finance goal aimed at helping developing countries transition their energy systems and adapt their economies to a warmer world at COP29.

Many developing nations are calling for a goal of $1tn, a sum rich nations including the UK say they cannot afford to provide.

Speaking at a side meeting with World Bank president Ajay Banga, Starmer said the world would need to find so-called innovative sources of finance and “break down the barriers blocking private finance” to help pay for the shift to green energy and adaptation to global warming. 

“We know the scale of what is needed and we know it is immense. We will all need to be innovative,” he said.

Many nations are also looking to multilateral development banks to plug the climate finance gap. On Tuesday, a join statement from more than 10 MDBs, including the World Bank group, said they expected they could provide financing of $120bn for low and middle-income countries by 2030, while mobilising $65bn from the private sector.

Speaking en route to Baku, Starmer said taking action on climate change was in Britain’s self-interest. He refused to be drawn about US president-elect Donald Trump’s repeated statements that climate change was a “hoax”.

The UK leader said he was “not going to comment on [Trump’s] views”, saying only that “the climate challenge is something that we have got to rise to”.

“But I do think it’s more than just an obligation, it’s a huge opportunity. The UK has a huge opportunity to get ahead here when it comes to renewables.”

While Britain’s plan for tackling climate change is expected to be one of the most ambitious of any government to be announced at COP29, the country is still lagging on an earlier target of a 68 per cent cut in emissions by 2030.

The British government announced on Monday that it would give offshore wind developers a further £27mn for every gigawatt of electricity generated to help build up domestic supply chains, on top of existing “contracts for difference” subsidies, up to an initial cap of £200mn a year.

Starmer said the launch of a new climate finance mechanism on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday was an “early example” of the role the City could play. For the first time, a multilateral climate fund will be able to access capital markets, with the Climate Investment Funds using its balance sheet to issue bonds, to generate more cash for investment.

“London is already one of the world’s greatest financial centres. I want us to be bold. I see London as the green quarters of the world,” he said.