David Lammy says climate change is more urgent threat than terrorism or Putin

David Lammy has warned that climate change is a more urgent threat than terrorism or Vladimir Putin in a major speech in which he pledged to put the emergency at the centre of British foreign policy.

Tackling the crisis, which is “accelerating towards us”, will also boost growth in the UK, the foreign secretary said.

“The threat may not feel as urgent as a terrorist or an imperialist autocrat. But it is more fundamental. It is systemic. Pervasive. And accelerating towards us,” he warned.

Mr Lammy blasted Russia’s “fascism” and “imperialism” last week on a visit to war-torn Ukraine.

He made the vow after the death toll in central Europe rose to at least 15 in the wake of a series of devastating floods.

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As war rages on the edge of Europe and in the Middle East, the foreign secretary also warned that in the future “there will be no global stability without climate stability”.

And he accused the Tories of being “climate dinosaurs” as he branded the previous administration a “fossil fuel government”.

Putting the climate crisis “central to all that the Foreign Office does” would also help consumers at home, he predicted.

The change was important not just given the scale of the threat “but also the scale of the opportunity”, he added. “The chance to achieve clean and secure energy, lower bills, and drive growth for the UK, and to preserve the natural world around us, on which all prosperity ultimately depends.”

As he outlined the new government’s plan to create a global clean power alliance, he said that “we need a hardheaded, realist approach towards using all levers at our disposal, from the diplomatic to the financial”.

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These were not contradictions, he insisted, because nothing could be more central to the UK’s national interests “than delivering global progress on arresting rising temperatures”.

Labour came under fire before July’s election for watering down a major pledge to spend £28bn a year on green energy projects in a bid to tackle global warming and cut household bills.

Ministers insist they were forced to scale back their ambitions after the former Tory prime minister Liz Truss “crashed” the economy.

In his speech Mr Lammy turned his ire on the previous Tory government. In his last year in office, Rishi Sunak cut some green policies in a bid to woo middle England. The move was prompted by a rare Tory by-election victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, in which Labour’s poor performance was blamed on an extension of the Labour London mayor’s clean air crackdown on older and more polluting cars.

Mr Lammy said: “They became climate dinosaurs – crashing offshore wind, blocking onshore wind, moving the goalposts on electric vehicle targets, doubling down on oil and gas, leaving British wildlife in crisis, our biodiversity declining at an unprecedented rate, our precious national parks in decline, our rivers, lakes and seas awash with toxic sewage.

“Blind (to) the opportunities of the energy transition, a fossil fuel government in a renewable age.

“The truth is that in the last few years, something went badly wrong. Badly wrong, in our national debate on climate change and net zero.”

He added: “Net zero became, under the Tories, a battleground. A battleground of the worst type of narrow-minded Westminster tactical warfare.”

Hannah Bond, from ActionAid UK, said Mr Lammy’s comments were positive.

“We are encouraged to see the new UK government take the first step in seriously addressing the urgent climate crisis impacting billions worldwide, after years of delayed promises and empty gestures,” she said.

“From our work, we know that climate change is one of the biggest injustices faced by women and girls across the world and today’s announcement is an important step in tackling gender inequality.

“While today’s announcement is positive, the UK government cannot ignore the scale of the funding needed to match its ambitions – one it must not and cannot afford to shy away from.”