Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): The success or failure of the COP26 rests heavily on whether the UK, as chairman, can persuade China—the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide—to set tough targets to cut its output. Is this affecting the Government’s response to this issue? What is the UK’s strategy to influence China across the piece, as there are many areas where it needs to do so?
The Minister of State (Mr James Cleverly): I can assure my right hon. Friend that the actions of the UK Government in response to this cyber-attack are driven by this cyber-attack and our complete unwillingness to accept it as a pattern of behaviour.
He does make an incredibly important point though, and it reflects the point that I have made that we cannot simply ignore China. A previous question this morning highlighted the fact that China is still heavily reliant on coal as an energy production source, and we know the climate change implications of that. We want China to behave better on the international stage both on things such as cyber-security, intellectual property and human rights, but also on the incredibly important agenda that will affect our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren, which is the protection of the environment and a move towards greener energy generation.
July 21, 2021
One might hope that there will be some dissenting voices at COP26. It is well past time to recognise that the climate change scam is just that. The theory has been discredited by real scientists yet too many still accept theory as fact. Clearly government likes it as yet another control measure. Time for them to consider the opposing voices rather than dismiss them.
July 22, 2021
I totally agree and I am surprised that this diary post has only had one comment. That the COP fiascos have now reached number 26 defies belief. I have no idea whether or not, because of the pandemic restrictions, the COP organisers in government will have the decency to hold it via video this year but at least if they do it will go some way to convince the people that they – and all the other people that have jumped on this bandwagon – believe their own propaganda.