Oil and gas are a ‘gift from God’, Azerbaijan tells Keir Starmer and the Taliban as sparsely attended COP26 climate summit descends into farce… even as PM commits to cutting emissions by 81%

Keir Starmer today promised Britain a massive cut in carbon emissions at the COP29 summit – despite the host calling oil and gas a ‘gift from God’.

The Prime Minister has confirmed the eye-watering target of cutting emissions by 81 percent by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.

He used a press conference in Baku to deny that he would have to tell Britain “how to live” to achieve the ambitious target.

But the meeting, which was condemned by many world leaders but attended by the Taliban, is in danger of descending into chaos after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev insisted that countries should not be ashamed of selling fossil fuels.

In his opening speech, Aliyev lashed out at “unfortunately double standards, the habit of lecturing other countries and political hypocrisy” from the West.

Arguing that natural resources are a “gift from God” like other natural resources, he said: “Countries should not be blamed for owning them, and should not be blamed for marketing these resources because the market needs them.’

Sir Keir is one of a handful of prime ministers from Azerbaijan’s richest countries for the annual meeting, although the Taliban have sent a representative.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and India’s Narendra Modi are not in Baku.

Senior figures from the EU and China are also absent from what is feared to be yet another support group that achieves little or nothing in the way of concrete action.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are all staying at home. The only other G7 leader taking part in the summit is Italian Giorgia Meloni.

One surprise visitor is the Taliban, who have found time to participate in the event.

Matiul Haq Khalis, the head of Afghanistan’s Environmental Protection Agency, spoke to the media about the impact of climate change on the country.

Downing Street said Sir Keir had no plans to meet the delegation.

Countries will also grapple with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, which analysts say reflects a trend of climate skepticism in this year’s elections.

The next president of the US, the world’s second-biggest polluter, is expected to boost fossil fuels, scale back green incentives at home and – again – exclude America from the global Paris Agreement on tackling of climate change, which obliges countries to continue their efforts to combat climate change. warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

At his press conference, Sir Keir stressed he wanted to ‘tread lightly into people’s lives’ as he pursued the emissions target.

The government’s Climate Change Commission has suggested that around 10 percent of the savings in its plan to cut emissions by 2035 will come from changes that reduce demand for carbon-intensive activities, particularly “an accelerated shift in diet away from meat and dairy products, reductions in waste, slower growth in the number of flights and a decrease in travel demand.

The Prime Minister said: ‘The goal is my goal and the plan is my plan, I am not borrowing from anyone else’s plan.

“The goal is as I laid it out today. I don’t think that if we’re going to tackle this really important issue, we should do it by telling people how to live their lives and instructing them how to behave.”

Sir Keir said: “We have set the target, which is an important, ambitious target. What we’re not going to do is tell people how to live their lives.

‘We’re not going to dictate to people what they do. But we will be clear that this means delivering on the 2030 Clean Energy Mission that we have set out, one of the government’s five major projects.

‘That is essential, so we will achieve that. It’s an ambitious goal, it’s an achievable goal, but it’s not going to be a goal where we tell people how to live their lives.”

Asked if he was disappointed that other world leaders had not attended Cop29, Sir Keir said Britain was at the summit to ‘show leadership’.

During a round of interviews this morning, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said no one – including Mr Trump – can stop the clean energy transition.

“It would be wrong to say that the US elections are not being discussed, but I think what’s striking about what’s happening here is that whether you talk to the business community or to other countries, people are continuing with this transition.” , he told Sky News. .

This is an unstoppable transition and the reason is, and the reason I’m here, is because this is in our national self-interest as a country.”

Sir Keir previously said that achieving Net Zero Power by 2030 ‘lower bills for people, for their energy, it will give them independence so that tyrants like (Vladimir) Putin can’t put his boot on our throats, causing all kinds of problems for our energy bills.”

He added: “I accept it is a difficult target. It is an achievable goal. But it’s not about telling people how to live their lives. I’m not interested in that.

“I want to make sure that their energy bills are stable, that we get energy independence and that we also get the next generation of jobs along the way.”

Azerbaijan’s choice to host the talks has been criticized for its human rights record, which includes shortcomings such as the prosecution of political opponents and the arrest of activists.