Stop using China as a distraction from our own appalling carbon emissions record

Many people are still not aware of the huge role the UK plays in the global fossil fuel economy, writes Donnachadh McCarthy

Climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group cross the Millennium bridge in London on 2 September (AFP via Getty Images)

China, China, China. Yes, we must tackle China’s huge and growing carbon emissions, but we also must tackle Britain’s carbon emissions, as one of the largest centres of the global fossil-fuelled economy. And most importantly, to lead by example as the president of the crucial Cop26 negotiations in November. If the UK refuses to take the minimum first step of banning all new fossil fuel investments, what hope have we of persuading the Cop26 to do so?

After the IPCC report was published stating that all regions of the world, including the UK and China, were now facing extreme weather events linked with the climate, I got inundated for weeks with requests to do (unpaid) interviews on right-wing TV and radio talk shows.

There are some in the green movement who advocate a boycott of such rabidly anti-climate action shows. But since about 50 per cent of UK voters regularly back right-wing parties, it is crucial for the climate movement to engage with right-wing media. We must unite right and left if, as a country, we are to make the deep civilisational changes necessary.

There were several consistent attacks levelled by almost all the interviewers. Why don’t you tackle China’s emissions? Don’t climate protectors want to penalise the poor? Extinction Rebellion are just a bunch of extremists, are they not?

With interviews continuing day after day, I felt marooned on a desert island between opposing right and left political forces and that the screams of the climate and destruction of nature were being drowned out. The right needs to understand the economic devastation implicit in climate destruction. And the left needs to understand that any future social justice for those in the global south depends on uniting society to tackle climate destruction.

I try to listen to the interviewers as people, rather than as enemies. Take China. The political right is correct to point out that the country, at 27 per cent of global emissions, is now the largest global carbon emitter. It is building new, disastrously polluting coal-fired power stations. But once I agreed that the Chinese embassy is a legitimate target for peaceful direct action by Extinction Rebellion, I found that interviewers stopped being so angry.

Many people are still not aware of the huge role the UK plays in the global fossil fuel economy. Two of the largest global oil corporations (Shell and BP) are based in the UK. Two of the world’s largest fossil-fuel investing banks (Barclays and HSBC) are in the UK, according to 2021 research by a group of non-governmental organisations, and the report Banking on Climate Change.

The UK is the largest global centre for fossil fuel insurance and is also the base for major global fossil-fuel promoting PR corporations. It is disingenuous for some to exploit the potential financial impacts on the poor, in order to justify not acting on climate, when the poor have had to face austerity and tax cuts for the rich and corporations.

But the climate movement does need to heed the legitimate truth that climate action must help, not penalise, the poor. This is absolutely possible. For example, Extinction Rebellion demands that the UK government and Cop26 implement the International Energy Agency requirement that all new fossil fuel investments are banned immediately. This would free up $5tn globally to be invested in the green transition over the next decade.

Switching the proposed £27bn UK road expansion programme could help fund a national cycle network, free urban public transport and rural electric buses, without having to raise taxes. The proposed £16bn increase in defence spending could instead insulate millions of working-class homes, install solar panels and the switch to green electric heating, thus reducing bills and helping to protect 26,000 elderly people from cold-related deaths each winter. Switching to largely plant-based diets will reduce costs and improve the health of millions of poor people.

And finally what about the endless angry claims that Extinction Rebellion are “extremists”? This smear is unjustified – but the real extremism is not those ringing the climate alarm. The real extremism, in face of the IPCC warnings, is the UK banks pouring billions of pounds into new fossil fuel investments. As a result of the IPCC report, they now know in no uncertain terms the devastating threat such investments pose to the wealth, economy and social programmes in the UK and globally, but will things change?

If we do not unite left and right to eliminate carbon emissions, radically reduce material resource consumption and move to a largely plant-based diet, we will all be united in unbearable suffering, with more floods, more wildfires, more diseases and an end to the natural world as we know it.

If we leave our tribal left and right battles to one side and unite on this existential battle to create a zero-carbon economy by 2030, we can – and must – all win.