UK

Government urged to expand top climate diplomat’s role to include biodiversity

Labour has pledged to reinstate the UK Special Representative for Climate Change after the Tories axed the role last year.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told businesses during the General Election campaign that Labour would reappoint a dedicated UK climate envoy
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told businesses during the General Election campaign that Labour would reappoint a dedicated UK climate envoy (Lucy North/PA)
By Rebecca Speare-Cole, PA sustainability reporter

The new Government must expand the UK’s most senior climate diplomat post to include biodiversity, green groups have urged.

Labour has pledged to reinstate the UK Special Representative for Climate Change, which aims to further the country’s green goals internationally, including Cop summits.

During the election campaign last month, then-shadow foreign secretary David Lammy told businesses and trade bodies that the party would increase economic and climate attaches as well as reappoint a dedicated UK climate envoy.

It came after Rishi Sunak’s Government was criticised for axing the role in 2023 after Nick Bridge stood down, leaving the UK as one of the only major economic powers at Cop28 in November without a specialist envoy.

In a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this week, a coalition of environmental groups welcomed the new Labour Government’s promise to reinstate the role.

But they called for biodiversity protection to be recognised within the role’s title and remit as part of an “integrated approach”.

The letter noted: “Our global climate and biodiversity crises are fundamentally interconnected and mutually reinforcing, not least because the planet’s natural carbon stores, such as wetlands and forests, are degraded and losing their ability to sequester atmospheric carbon.”

The groups warned of the loss of UK peatlands transforming the carbon sink into a net source of emissions and the 69% decline of monitored wildlife globally, according to WWF.

They wrote that expanding the role to include biodiversity “will revolutionise the UK’s representation at both climate and biodiversity Cops and help foster effective ‘whole of government’ approaches”.

Signatories included Greenpeace, WWF, the Wildlife Trusts, River Action, Chester Zoo, Environmental Justice Foundation and RSPB.

An Environment Department (Defra) spokesperson said: “Nature underpins everything and is central to the Government’s mission on net zero. It’s why this Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature.

“We will ensure the Environmental Improvement Plan is fit for purpose, focus on delivering our Environment Act targets, improve access to nature and protect our landscapes and wildlife.”