Speeches by Miliband.

“I had not heard that. The truth is that there are some people who come as part of our team as civil servants and there are other people who get passes via the UK.”

“I am not aware of that.”

“I will answer this at two levels. First, people might wonder what impact the Prime Minister announcing an ambitious target has. The impact that it has is that the power of example really matters in these negotiations, giving you the authority to negotiate for ambition. Let me unpack that. When we passed the Climate Cha…”

“It would not be diplomatic for me to talk about individual countries in this context. The point that I was going to make was that the centre ground of these negotiations does want ambition. If you think about small island states that are in danger of disappearing, so many developing countries that are worried about the…”

“I agree with that. These things tend to go in cycles. COP28 represented quite unexpected progress, and the UAE presidency deserves a lot of credit for that, for having driven it forward on the transition away from fossil fuels. However, saying that is one thing, operationalising it is another. It is interesting because…”

“The transition away from fossil fuels is the hardest yards of these negotiations, because you are asking countries to change the way our economies have been run for 200 years.”

“Correct.”

“The specifics of this—which is a debate we will have in the run-up to COP30 in Brazil—is how we take forward the UAE consensus and the global stocktake. In particular there is a lot of interest in paragraph 28, which is about the transition away from fossil fuels and the trebling of renewables by 2030. The feeling of d…”

“The way we put it is that we can only have energy security at home if we become a clean energy superpower. That is in the interests of today’s generations. However, the truth is that we can only have climate security for future generations if we act with others. It is important to say as a starting point that we are 1%…”

“Thank you very much, Chair. It is great to be with you today. The EAC plays an important role in scrutiny and accountability of Government and has done over the years, so I look forward to working with you. We lead the Government’s Clean Energy Superpower Mission in DESNZ. It is a foundation for our work at home and ab…”

“I am the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and it is great to be with you today. On my right I have Lee McDonough, who is the Director General for Net Zero, Nuclear and International in my Department, and Matt Toombs, who is the Director for International Climate.”

“Absolutely, and—”

“I am generous. Well, I think your Chair is generous on my behalf, actually.”

“I know from reading the testimony of Emma Pinchbeck to your Committee that this is something you have taken an interest in. I think we should just be frank about the fact that this has for too long been somewhat of an orphan in Government. It is led, as you will know—I think you expressed some concern about this—not by…”

“Thank you so much, Chair. It is a great pleasure to be before the Committee today, making my first appearance under your chairmanship, and I look forward to working closely with all the Committee members. I want to start by setting out the thinking behind what we are trying to do as a Department, for your benefit. As y…”

“It is probably slightly heroic to think I can recreate it on my own. It takes two to consensus—or lots of people. But there is a serious point here, which is that we passed the Climate Change Act in 2008 with a vast majority in this House, and I think that has served us well and continues to serve us well. There are pe…”

“Definitely.”

“I think the work of your Committee is important and we want to keep you as well informed as we possibly can. You have an important role in scrutinising our work, hopefully as a collective, and supporting our work where you think we are getting it right and, of course, challenging us where you think we are getting it wr…”

“I think you are going to be frustrated with my answer, Sir Christopher. We have to do both. We could give up on measures on tackling greenhouse gas emissions, but I think that would be grossly irresponsible. The way I think about this is that obviously Britain on its own cannot tackle the climate crisis. You are absolu…”

“I was not around in 1953. I am not suggesting you were.”