Flickr/klem@s. Some rights reserved.
As both the UK election campaign and the global climate hot up, it is worth asking how the two might affect each other. One theory is ‘not much’. The leaders of Labour, Conservatives and the Lib Dems even signed up to a joint declaration as part of a ‘Show the love’ campaign for the climate. All three affirmed that they wanted a ‘fair, strong, legally binding, global climate deal’ at the Paris climate summit in December; that they will set carbon budgets in line with the 2008 Climate Change Act; and that they commit to end the use of ‘unabated’ coal for power generation.
Little of that is new. But the declaration could still be significant. Backsliding after the election is now less likely, on balance, and the UK’s ‘consensus’ has been hailed abroad with Al Gore calling it "inspiring leadership and true statesmanship" necessary to overcome vested interests resisting change.
