The government will seek “common ground” with Donald Trump on climate change and net zero, Ed Miliband has said.
The energy security and net zero secretary suggested the US president-elect, who has repeatedly referred to climate change as a “hoax”, could be persuaded by the economic arguments for shifting to green power.
Trump is expected to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement when he returns to office in January after he pledged to “drill, baby, drill” to unleash increased oil production during the recent US presidential election campaign.
Miliband told BBC Breakfast: “It’s our job to work with the duly-elected US president. He has his own views. I think what’s interesting about this — and you will see what decisions the new administration makes — is that the economics now point in the direction of clean energy.”
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He added: “So, we will seek to find common ground with Donald Trump, he will make his own decisions about what he wants to do.
“I obviously want him to stay in the Paris climate agreement, but that’s his decision.”
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Miliband was also asked about his comments in 2016, when he described the president-elect as a “racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper.”
The energy secretary responded: “Look, I’ve said things in the past. My job now as a government minister is to work with the new US administration.
“I genuinely don’t think that Donald Trump is reading my tweets, I don’t have such a high opinion of myself.”
Keir Starmer is attending the Cop29 climate change summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday, where he will set out the UK’s new emissions reduction target.
It is understood that the government will pledge to reduce emissions by 81 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2035, in line with the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee (CCC).
Speaking to reporters, the prime minister insisted he will not be “telling people how to live their lives” as part of the government’s drive to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Starmer was asked if he was prepared to ask more people to change their heating systems, tell them to take fewer flights and eat less meat to reach that target.
He responded: “I’ll set out our goal later on today, but look, it will be ambitious, and that’s measured not by telling people what to do.”
He said the new emissions target would be “difficult” but “achievable”, adding: “But it’s not about telling people how to live their lives. I’m not interested in that. I am interested in making sure that their energy bills are stable, that we’ve got energy independence, and that we also, along the way, pick up the next generation of jobs.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
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