Keir Starmer’s arrival at COP29, with a promise to slash the UK’s carbon emissions by 81%, will be a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak start to climate negotiations.

THE election of Donald Trumpwhich promised to pull the world’s largest economy out of the negotiations, was a colossal setback for a series of negotiations dedicated to increasing ambition – and liquidity – for the transition away from fossil fuels.

As if that wasn’t enough, Starmer was one of the few G20 leaders to show up for the negotiations.

President Biden is absent, as are the leaders of China, Brazil, Germany and France.

Starmer wants to represent commitment to reducing emissions as a sign of his confidence that the UK can become a leading economy without fossil fuels.

The Prime Minister’s commitment reinforces the message that these negotiations are urgently trying to send: net zero emissions are an opportunity for growth, not economic suicide.

But for us, it is a political risk.

Achieving an 81% reduction in emissions within 10 years will require a colossal and, in the short term, costly effort. He was forced to insist that his government would not force his government to tell people how to live their lives.

However, this will certainly involve changes in the way people live.

Labour’s already ambitious plans for carbon-free electricity will not get us there alone.

Making homes more energy efficient and heating them without gas will be essential.

The same will be true for delicate things like the protection of peatlands, our uplands and agricultural reform.

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Although this may be presented as political excess, in reality the government had no choice.

The 81% target is what the Climate Change Commission has said is the only way for the government to meet its obligations under the UK’s climate change law introduced by the Conservatives with cross-party support.

This piece of legislation is, in turn, one designed to ensure that the UK complies with the terms of the Paris Agreement that the UN the climatic process is underway.

So while they will celebrate the Prime Minister’s announcement at this summit for the signal it sends to other less ambitious countries, it is not seen as radical, but necessary.

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And praise for the Prime Minister will be limited here in Baku.

COP29 is above all a question of money – and of agreeing on a new financial mechanism to allow the poorest countries which have not yet burned their “share” of fossil fuels not to follow the path which has made rich country like ours.

Starmer arrived at this summit with a bold national commitment, but without any promise of additional money for this process.

The UK is not alone: ​​many other rich countries are unwilling to ask their taxpayers to fork out more money to fight climate change.

The rest of these discussions will focus on how this reality corresponds to the growing costs of climate impacts in rich and poor countries alike.