Boris Johnson has been told to “get off the sun lounger and start being a statesman” if the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow is to succeed.
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader and shadow Business Secretary, has challenged the Prime Minister to treat the summit with “the seriousness it deserves”.
Ahead of a speech on Wednesday, Miliband said people barely know what the UK wants to achieve with the global summit.
He said: "What is the COP about?' is a question I get asked a lot. The answer is surprisingly simple but has never been properly set out by government.
“We are barely a fortnight from the start of COP26. We are miles away from where we need to be.”
Miliband challenged Johnson to use his holiday in Spain to get agreement from rich nations to stop polluting and properly fund environmental measures.
Drawing on his own experience from the Copenhagen summit in 2009, Miliband will use his speech to set key tests for the Tory government.
He said: “We need a step-change in action from our government and governments across the world in Glasgow”
Miliband said that COP26 is “all about the maths”, with clear commitments needed to reduce to reduce global emissions from 53 gigatonnes, to 25 gigatonnes in 2030.
Miliband said: “The best estimates are that we stand at a maximum of four gigatonnes of emissions reductions on the basis of the pledges made so far, leaving a 24-25 gigatonne gap."
“This is the undeniable and frightening maths of Glasgow."
He added: “We cannot let COP26 be the greenwash summit.
“It’s time for the Prime Minister to get off his sun lounger, be a statesman and make Glasgow the success we need it to be. This summit must succeed.”
The Labour MP’s warning found an echo in a speech given by Cop26 President, Alok Sharma, who said the world’s major economies still have to take ““make or break” action to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C.
In a speech in Paris on Tuesday he warned leaders of the G20 economies that the world is facing a “climate catastrophe” unless they make concrete commitments next month.
In a message directed particularly at China, the UK Minister urged leaders from the major economies to honour the Paris Agreement in 2015 committing countries to keeping temperature rises to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels.
In a speech in Paris Sharma said: “We know that we can only tackle climate change if every country plays its part. So I say to those G20 leaders, they simply must step up ahead of Cop26.”
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