As world leaders come together this week at COP26, I write this from a cell in Wandsworth Prison where I am serving a 12-month sentence for a peaceful climate protest, after climbing on an aeroplane during Extinction Rebellion’s October Rebellion in 2019.
It might seem ironic that I should be in here for protesting about the climate crisis while this crucial climate summit is held in the UK, but it shouldn’t be.
I don’t believe the UK government has the moral courage to do what’s necessary at COP26; instead they are intent on criminalising those peacefully calling for the rapid action we desperately need.
Having left much of the important work for the summit until the last minute, the Prime Minister has spent the last few days telling the world that the likelihood of the conference succeeding is slim. Will he take any responsibility, I wonder?
Perhaps had he not taken a holiday to Spain a few weeks before the summit began, instead of knuckling down, our prospects would be better. I can’t help but wonder if this lacklustre approach, turned suddenly into urgency, is a deliberate attempt to pass the buck.
After all, the government’s recent Net Zero Strategy tells a story of delusion, carbon offsetting, incremental policy change, and tech fixes not yet invented, dressed up as a shiny plan for COP26. The reality is, their proposal still falls hugely short of the UK’s Paris commitments, with our carbon budget more in line with 2.5 to 3C of warming than 1.5 to 2C. And we call ourselves climate leaders?
I won three bronze medals in the Swedish Paralympics in 1986 with Britain’s surprisingly successful blind cross-country ski team, and double gold in New York in 1984 for cross-country skiing, shocking people with our capacity to achieve the apparently unachievable.
But what motivates me is challenge and discovery rather than winning, and to go after what is deemed to many to be impossible. It was my wonderful daughter Alice who brought to my attention the current severity of the crisis we face. True to character, I resolved to play my part in tackling it to the best of my ability. Will the Prime Minister do what’s necessary now to protect his children?
I believe the UK can and must lead on climate, but we must be brave enough to do the unexpected. If the UK became the first nation to stop all new fossil fuel investment, other countries would follow. After all, this is what the International Energy Agency is saying needs to happen right now, alongside 70 of the world’s top scientists just weeks ago.
Our leaders must act now with all the courage and determination the human spirit can muster, to achieve this most difficult of tasks. Sadly, I don’t believe the UK Prime Minister is capable of this, because he’s not motivated by truth, fairness, courage and a love for humanity and nature in all its ferocious beauty; all values needed at this desperate hour.
If world leaders at COP can’t do what’s necessary after 26 years, then we must look for different ways to find solutions that are independent of the corruption of mainstream politics. Citizens Assemblies – whether local, national or global – alongside participative democracy, could offer this.
Because change will ultimately come from the people, not politicians.