https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/protests-planned-treasury-cop31-climate-summit-begins
Fossil Free London held the first of six protests planned for the next fortnight [Pic: Fossil Free London]As ministers head to Cop31, climate campaigners are taking their fight to the Treasury, demanding Labour abandons new fossil fuel projects and steps up its green ambitions
A FORTNIGHT of protests against fossil fuels began outside the Treasury today as ministers headed to Turkey for the Cop31 climate summit.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to enter his first climate talks as PM tomorrow, but Fossil Free London called his record on the question “abysmal” and Friends of the Earth demanded higher taxes on the oil and gas industry to fund environmental clean-ups and climate mitigation.
Fossil Free London held the first of six protests planned for the next fortnight, demanding the government rule out approval of the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea.
Its director Robin Wells said: “We know that [Cop31] is a busman’s holiday for the fossil fuel industry, and usually awash with an oil slick of fossil fuel lobbyists.
“Andy Burnham’s record on climate so far is abysmal. Not only did he grant Shell a climate-wrecking gas field, Jackdaw, the government has just cut the warm homes programme, pledged to veto new wind farms and will potentially roll back the electric vehicle mandate.”
Rejecting Rosebank would place Labour on a collision course with industry unions, which argue the collapse of the North Sea oil and gas industry without a planned transition to renewables would abandon communities and threaten energy security.
Friends of the Earth said the government should go further than rejecting Rosebank by vetoing expansion of Heathrow airport and placing a moratorium on the construction of new data centres.
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