Rishi Sunak tells Cop28 climate change won’t be tackled unless ‘we take people with us’

RISHI Sunak has warned the Cop28 summit climate change won’t be tackled unless “we take people with us”.

The Prime Minister said the UK will still meet its net zero targets but in a way “that “doesn’t burden working people”.

PA

King Charles III (left) speaks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as they attend the opening ceremony of the World Climate Action Summit at Cop28 in Dubai[/caption]

He also insisted climate politics is at “breaking point”.

His comments came as he delivered a speech at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai today, calling on the carbon giants to “do more” reduce emissions.

The PM also announced that a “massive” deal has been struck between two energy firms to invest up to £11bn in the UK’s Dogger Bank wind farm.

After praising the UK for “leading the charge” to net zero, he declared: “As I said in September, we won’t tackle climate change unless we take people with us. Climate politics is close to breaking point.

“The British people care about the environment. They know that the costs of inaction are intolerable, but they also know that we have choices about how we act.

“So yes, we’ll meet our targets, but we’ll do it in a more pragmatic way, which doesn’t burden working people.

“We’ve scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy efficiency, which would have cost families thousands of pounds.

“We’ll help people to improve energy efficiency and cut bills, but we won’t force them to. “

Asked during a press conference after the speech if anyone at the summit had raised concerns about his decision to water down a number of green targets, Mr Sunak said: “Hand on heart, 100%. No.

“Not a single leader that I’ve spoken to today has spoken about that. Do you know why? Because most of their targets are less ambitious than the UK’s.”