Monday 7 November 2022 11:28 PM DAILY MAIL COMMENTS: Reparations would be lunacy, Mr Sunak trends now
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Rishis Sunak was wise to avoid apocalyptic rhetoric during his keynote speech to the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt.
In his first foray on to the international stage as Prime Minister, it was important his words were measured, not hysterical.
As a result, his message that all nations should hasten their drive towards net zero carbon emissions to curb global warming hit the right note.
By contrast, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres's end-of-the-world pronouncements risked ordinary citizens switching off. 'We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,' he warned.
Rishis Sunak was wise to avoid apocalyptic rhetoric during his keynote speech at Cop27
Given Russia's invasion of Ukraine has strengthened the importance of ending dependence on fossil fuels, Mr Sunak is right to want to turn Britain into a 'clean energy superpower'.
But to get ordinary people on board, he must be realistic about what we can achieve – and the potential costs.
Britain produces under 1 per cent of the world's CO2, and has reduced emissions by 45 per cent since the 1990s.
We are one of the only countries in the world to have imposed on its economy a strict, anti-competitive and legally-binding requirement to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 (a process started by Ed Miliband's ruinous Climate Change Act in 2008).
While China, India and other rivals belch out eye-watering emissions (and are not even at the climate jamboree), signing Britain up to ever more punitive
