The secretary for energy and climate change, Amber Rudd, has said that the country is “absolutely committed” to the COP21 agreement. She went on to say that she will be “making sure that we deliver on it”.
She added that she believes there to be a real “political will” between nations to meet the targets that it sets out.
The deal has been agreed between all 195 countries that were present at the climate change summit in Paris.
The prime minister, David Cameron, said that the agreement shows “a huge step forward in securing the future of the planet”.
He went on to say that the deal proved what “unity, ambition and perseverance can do”.
However there have been many activists who claim that the “soaring rhetoric” was not matched by the reality of what had been achieved in the agreement. Many business leaders have also said that there is a need for a higher level of investment in greener, cleaner technology.
Amber Rudd stated that she does not think that the COP21 agreement was “a perfect deal”, but that hope can be found in the fact that “countries have agreed to do this, they have to come forward with the proposals”.
She went on to say:
“We had to get the balance of being totally inclusive, getting 200 countries to sign up, but also not having such a tough compliance regime that you can say we had at Kyoto, which didn’t succeed, that some countries would step away.
“I think this is the right balance, but it is a compromise. It is nevertheless a historic moment.”
The climate change and energy minister said that even though there were no “tough compliance” regulations in place, the countries involved were all determined to deliver on their pledges.
“Countries have agreed to do this. They have to come forward with the proposals and what you saw at the conference over the past few weeks was the support from civil society, NGOs and critically from businesses who are going to help pay for this.”
Ms Rudd has come under fire a lot in recent months after she decided to take an axe to green subsidies, which were aimed at promoting the development of renewable technologies in the UK. She has said that she will counter this by ending the use of coal-fired power stations and focusing more on developing offshore wind farms.
She said that there is “no point in having renewables that are permanently expensive”.
She went on to say:
“Subsidies isn’t a long-term plan. The costs of solar have come down over the past 15 years by 80%. If the cost comes down then the subsidy comes down.”
David Cameron praised the Paris agreement:
“This global deal now means that the whole world has signed to play its part in halting climate change.”
The shadow energy minister, Labour’s Barry Gardiner, said that it was the beginning of a “new industrial revolution”.
“What we’re seeing is the world waking up to the fact that we have to do things differently.”
Craig Bennett, head of Friends of the Earth, said that the deal did not represent an “adequate global plan”.
He went on:
“This summit clearly shows that fossil fuels have had their day and that George Osborne’s outdated, backward energy policies must be reversed if he wants to be on the right side of history.”
The director-general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, said:
“The government must provide a stable environment that enables investment in cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy generation, including renewable technologies and new gas plants.”
Richard Benyon, the former energy minister, said that a “race for green technologies” would now begin.
He said:
“Countries are going to be competing with themselves for a growing economic market place for green technologies. And you’re going to see the innovation that exists in human nature really come alive because of this.”
