With the mercury no longer sitting at around 30C, perhaps we can forget about climate concerns for now – which appears to be what occurred following the heatwaves of 1983, 1995, 2003, 2006, 2018, 2022 and 2025 (and one cannot help but observe how the intervals between them are shortening).
As weeks of above-average temperatures and prolonged dry spells have tested our patience, I have been anticipating in vain some kind of retraction from the Daily Mail or Daily Telegraph along the lines of We apologise, the climate emergency does exist after all.
For considerable time, those dismissive of climate science insisted it was fiction spread by extreme environmentalists or progressive politicians. However, once it became impossible to ignore that the planet was warming due to human activity, their argument shifted to: Perhaps the Earth is warming, but it’s a natural phenomenon unrelated to human carbon emissions.
Sooner or later such arguments will become untenable and the reality of an increasingly hot planet will have to be faced. Yet the government cannot afford to wait – the ideal moment to begin acting was after 1976, though beginning now to slow the warming process remains worthwhile even if reversing it is no longer feasible.
This situation will compel Prime Minister Andy Burnham to address some formidable decisions.
His genuine commitment to tackling the climate emergency is evident, yet he confronts several politically tricky situations. Two pressing matters involve North Sea hydrocarbon extraction and battery-powered cars – with numerous longer-term challenges beyond these.
The preceding Conservative administration originally sanctioned permits for extracting oil and gas from the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Green campaigners contested the legality of these decisions, and courts determined the authorisations were invalid due to failures to assess the climate impact of burning the extracted fossil fuels, as legislation mandated. Keir Starmer ordered a fresh public consultation, with a ministerial ruling anticipated this autumn.
Should Burnham approve extraction at these two fields, he can anticipate significant opposition, not merely from environmental groups but potentially more crucially from his own parliamentary party, who would contend this undermines Labour’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050.
Nevertheless, Burnham might still proceed because of the employment figures: 3,500 positions initially and 1,000 sustained roles. He would likely emphasise to colleagues and the public that achieving net zero requires an energy mix – combining solar, wind, nuclear and traditional fossil fuel sources.
The second contentious issue concerns whether to scrap the legal requirement forcing carmakers to discontinue sales of petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles by 2035.
Electric car uptake has been declining, and manufacturers have been urging ministers to relax the phase-out timetable. An official review has been commissioned, expected to deliver findings in October, and whatever it recommends will present the Prime Minister with a dilemma no less challenging than the North Sea drilling question.
During his tenure as Manchester’s mayor, Burnham displayed noteworthy environmental credentials. He established a legally binding goal for Greater Manchester to achieve carbon neutrality by 2038 – a full twelve years before the national 2050 target. His celebrated Bee network saw diesel buses replaced entirely by emission-free electric alternatives, while funding was directed toward developing or improving pedestrian and cycling pathways.
Consequently, based on his stated positions, it appears the Prime Minister will choose the environmentally conscious path – rejecting both North Sea extraction and any rollback of vehicle sale restrictions. But stated positions and political realities frequently diverge.
The temptation to compromise his environmental commitments will be substantial, yet the electoral consequences of refusing to do so could prove equally severe. I cannot predict his eventual decisions, though my speculation – and it remains mere speculation – is that he will somehow broker a compromise more or less palatable to all parties… or perhaps he will not. Watch this space.