With Mr Johnson set to resign as Prime Minister today, many Conservative MPs have been throwing their hats in the ring with the goal to be the next leader of the UK. One such MP, Steve Baker, of High Wycombe, recently announced a Tory leadership bid with a vow to dismantle policies surrounding climate change and net-zero. Mr Baker, a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, one of the UK’s leading climate sceptic think tanks, has repeatedly expressed hostility towards Mr Johnson’s green measures.
Speaking to the Guardian, he said that measures to stop climate change, like paying farmers to help the environment were “anti-human life on Earth in the name of environmentalism”.
He also vowed to expand the production of gas in the UK because there is “no short-term threat” from the climate crisis.
He also added he would end the push for more wind and solar power, explaining: “They are fundamentally intermittent sources of energy.
“And therefore if we’re going to maintain our standard of living and in particular industry, we’ve got to cover those intermittent sources with something else.”
Meanwhile, the Green MP, Caroline Lucas, was horrified at the prospect of Mr Baker leading the Government.
She said: “Our climate can’t be a pawn in the Tory leadership psychodrama.”
She also added that a prime minister with Mr Baker’s views “would be a disaster of incalculable proportions”.
Mr Baker’s views are not in line with both scientists and economists, most of whom urge a transition away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) insists the world must halve emissions by 2030.
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Jim Skea, Imperial College London professor and co-chairman of the working group who compiled the assessment, said: “It’s now or never if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C.
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres warned of large-scale extinction threats being faced by billions of animals and plant species due to climate change caused by human activities.
He said: “Major cities underwater, unprecedented heat waves, terrifying storms, widespread water shortages, the extinction of a million species of plants and animals- this is not fiction or exaggeration.
“This is what science tells us will resolve from our current energy policies.”
While the report paints a stark picture, the scientists noted that it is not too late to limit global warming to 1.5C by 2030.
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