Ministers must learn from Just Stop Oil demos says head of Climate Change Committee

Just Stop Oil protestors block traffic on London Bridge (Image: Getty Images)

Lord Deben, the chairman of the Climate Change Committee, has warned Government officials that they must act fast to prevent further catastrophic consequences of Global Warming.

The UK’s most senior climate adviser has accused the Government of falling short on its green pledges – and said they must “learn from” Just Stop Oil’s disruptive tactics.

But Lord Deben, who chairs the Climate Change Committee, admitted the protest group’s methods are “counterproductive” and “extreme”, which “turns people off”.

He said: “I do not think that [Just Stop Oil] promotes the cause which we all have.

“But I do think that governments and oppositions ought to recognize why it happens. A very, very large number of people, many of them young, really do feel that their whole lives are threatened.

“Because governments are not leading, not taking up the challenge, not moving fast enough, not keeping [the global warming limit of] 1.5C within possibilities, not in other words, doing what they ought to do.”

He added: “[The Government] too have a part to play, which is to move fast enough to give hope and confidence to a generation that is increasingly feeling that the current generation and the one after them is really not facing up to the realities.”

Just Stop Oil protestors stopped by police in Central London (Image: Getty Images)

Lord Deben said he was disappointed that his last progress report as chairman of the CCC “[did not] suggest satisfactory progress”.

Ministers have failed to create a “coherent” strategy for engaging with the public about climate action, which is “long overdue”, the Government’s green advisers said.

Lord Deben cited ministers’ “worrying hesitancy”, and warned that “pace must be prioritized over perfection”.

The CCC says that in industry, transport, buildings, and fuel supply, the speed of decarbonization over the next seven years has to quadruple what it has been over the previous eight to hit targets.

• Despite a cooler few days ending the month, this June is shaping up to be the hottest since 1884 when records began, the Met Office says – exceeding a mean average of 58.8F (14.9C) set in both 1940 and 1976.

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