Britain’s Sunak Says Ukraine War an Excuse to Push Green Agenda Even Harder

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech at the leaders summit of the COP27
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
Peter Caddle

Despite the ongoing energy and cost of living crises facing Europe, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has argued the Ukraine War is an excuse to accelerate his green agenda, rather than backtrack and concentrate on keeping the lights on this winter.

Speaking to the global COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected suggestions that ongoing economic, security and social problems in Europe to do with the Ukraine War warrant a rethink of his hardline climate ideology, instead saying that the chaos justifies a further acceleration of green agenda efforts instead.

With considerable parts of Europe having largely gotten itself addicted to gas supplied by Moscow as part of efforts to go green, the continent has been plunged into energy insecurity as a result of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, various European nations, including the United Kingdom, now face the possibility of rolling blackouts this winter as their national grids struggle to fill the hole in their energy budgets left by Russia.

Despite such a dire situation, Sunak told bigwigs gathered in Egypt on Monday that now was a time to double down on climate change ideology, rather than to reverse course.

“Putin’s abhorrent war in Ukraine and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change,” he told the conference. “They are a reason to act faster.”

Sunak has also promised international elites that the UK will triple the amount of money it will spend on green energy adaptation, and that his government will continue to pile billions more of taxpayers’ money into green agenda efforts both at home and abroad.

“By honouring the promises we made in Glasgow and by directing public and private finance towards the protection of our planet we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth and we can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future,” the Prime Minister said.

While Sunak claims that his spending spree on climate will be able to give “there really is room for hope”, it is highly likely that many in the UK and Europe more broadly would contest this assessment.

With the UK facing the possibility of the longest recession in its history, many struggling to pay for food or heating will likely not be pleased by the government giveaway, especially considering it has been buttressed by Sunak banning fracking in England.

“Sunak’s multi-billion [pound] COP27 giveaway will stick in the throats of Red Wall voters still waiting for “levelling up” money promised in 2019,” former British MEP Martin Daubney remarked, asking how the PM could ever justify spending huge sums of public money “for “clean energy” in the Third World, when working class voters can’t even afford to switch on the heating”.

The suggestion that green agenda policies should proceed regardless of the current chaos will also likely not be well accepted by many in Germany, who have been stuck with rapidly increasing inflation as various enterprises in the country go bust.

With many in the central European state now struggling with fuel and food costs as we enter winter, polling released by Bild has revealed that just under one-third of people in the country say that they will not have the money to buy loved ones Christmas presents this year.

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