UN Climate Talks Leadership Mocked for its Inability to Collaborate

By Mathew Carr

April 16, 2021 — LONDON: The U.K., which is planning to host UN climate talks later this year, is being mocked for its apparent inability to collaborate.

The European Federation of Energy Traders called for the linking of the post-Brexit U.K. emissions trading system, still under construction, with the EU CO2 market, the world’s biggest.

Brexit forced the UK out of the EU market.

Alistair McGirr, Head of Strategic Policy at UK utility SSE, said this:

“Progress on linking between the UK ETS and the EU ETS has been disappointing/non-existent. Time is running out for it to be done by COP26, where it could be used as a headline case study for collaboration under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Over 40 EU and UK trade associations have written to the EU institutions and the UK Government to try and get things moving. If the UK and the EU can’t agree to collaborate on issues such as climate, why should they expect others to? Announcing an ETS link by COP26 should be a key priority for both the EU and the UK to help make Glasgow a success.” (See note below for LinkedIn link)

PERSONALLY, I wouldn’t write off the U.K. just yet. There’s a chance Britain is seeking to collaborate with an even wider group of countries than just the EU. G7? G20? Even Africa?

The best climate solution is global. Otherwise, countries can ride for free on others’ efforts or continue to engage in the damaging climate brinkmanship we’ve seen the past 30 years.