We cannot afford to squander the Paris Agreement
4 min read
The UK must take the lead in putting nature at the heart of the fight against climate change.
We are living through a twin climate and nature crisis, one that crosses borders and pays no attention to political divides. It is the uneasy tension between the urgency of the moment and the politics that shapes our response that will ultimately determine where we end up.
Ten years ago this week, the UK joined 194 other countries to sign the Paris Agreement — a pledge to keep global warming below 2ºC and to pursue 1.5ºC. It was a turning point, a landmark of collective ambition. But agreeing on ambition was the easy part. What matters is delivery.
After 30 years of annual COP summits, where big oil lobbyists routinely outnumber entire nations’ delegations, something is clearly amiss when the world can only agree a vague nod towards moving away from the very fossil fuels driving the crisis we are trying to avert.
We are still dangerously off track for meeting our global targets, effectively breaching 1.5ºC already. Even if every national climate pledge were fully delivered, the world would still be heading for up to 2.5ºC of warming this century. Meanwhile, $8.7 trillion USD has been invested in oil and gas globally in the last decade.
Action is falling short just as the consequences are becoming more severe. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134 per cent. Scientists warn the widespread dieback of coral reefs marks our first catastrophic climate tipping point — a moment when a small shift triggers irreversible changes in the Earth system.
The financial toll is already stark. Across Europe, extreme weather costs have reached €44.5bn annually. These events are also driving “climateflation”, with UK food prices projected to rise by more than one-third by 2050.
However, while climate change is mounting, so too are the opportunities to turn the tide. The UK’s green economy is expanding, with private sector investment in renewables surging. This shift has also been reinforced by the ministers’ historic decision to end new oil and gas licences this year.
But in this fight, nature remains our most powerful ally. Restoring ecosystems strengthens economies: harvests are less vulnerable to droughts, and forests can continue to act as the planet’s lungs.
Despite being a nature-proud nation, it too often plays second fiddle in climate policy, treated as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a driver of prosperity and action. The government’s recent decision to pause new funding for nature restoration projects has undermined nature’s role at the very moment we need to elevate it.
Putting nature at the heart of efforts to limit climate change is the most cost-effective path forward. And as we work to restore nature at home, we must also continue to lead on the global stage.
The UK has led before, from pioneering the 2008 Climate Change Act to becoming the first major economy to legislate for net zero in 2019. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is accelerating the UK’s transition toward clean, home‑grown energy. However, this is broader than energy alone.
The government must seize the opportunities that climate and nature action present by delivering on our international commitments: cutting emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and achieving Global Biodiversity Framework targets to restore nature by 2030.
Hundreds of MPs recently heard first-hand from experts in extreme weather, food security, and defence at the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster. Their message was unequivocal: the risks are accelerating, and delay only increases the cost and the danger.
And as Chair of the cross-party Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus in Parliament, we are working to ensure the best available science is front and centre of political decision-making, calling on the government to match words with action.
The next decade must not be another missed opportunity. The UK has led before, and we must step up and lead again to forge a safer, greener and fairer world.
Olivia Blake is Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam and Chair of the Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus.
