COP26: John Prescott’s climate change message to world – The Yorkshire Post says

IT is apt that the Cop26 climate change summit represents the first high-profile public appearance by John Prescott after he suffered a stroke more than two years ago.

Politics has certainly been a lot quieter – and duller – without the former Deputy Prime Minister who helped to negotiate the Kyoto Protcol in 1997 which first committed industrialised countries to reducing emissions.

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But Lord Prescott also makes two profound points – namely his strong belief that world leaders should be compelled to meet annually so they can “be sat on and held to account” to deliver on targets, and also how they can learn from the example being set by Hull, his adopted city, and the Humber.

“Traditionally we have been one of the biggest polluters yet we also live on the frontline of climate change from flood risk,” he intends to tell Cop26.

“To counter that risk, the Humber is developing a ‘living lab’ of projects and knowledge that could be exported around the world to help other cities and regions reach Net Zero.”

With Hull intent on achieving net zero status by 2030 – a full 20 years ahead of the rest of Britain – Lord Prescott’s intervention is prescient ahead of The Yorkshire Post’s inaugural climate change summit in Leeds today.

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A groundbreaking event, it will see the official unveiling of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan – a 50-point strategy on how this region can capitalise, both environmentally and economically, on its burgeoning status as a climate conscious county intent on enhancing, still further, its status as a world leader in green energy.

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