Following a speech by Climate Secretary Ed Miliband at the UN climate talks that are taking place in Belém, Brazil this week, where he is due to meet with ministers from around the world as part of the negotiations, Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said:
"The UK says it's all in on climate action, but strong words without concrete plans for how the government will live up to them does nothing for people or our planet.
"From the podiums the UK claims it's a climate champion, but in the negotiation room it's blocking cooperation on delivering the Belém Action Mechanism, needed to deliver a fair and just transition at the international level. Meanwhile 6,000 miles away at the UN tax convention in Nairobi, it's also undermining efforts to create a fairer global tax system that's vital for shoring up the finance required to help the countries on the front lines of climate breakdown.
"For developing countries, calls for global ambition from rich countries without the support to back it up ring hollow, and are seen merely as a ploy to justify big business' continued plundering of their resources and mineral wealth.
"Ed Miliband rightly criticised the forces of climate denialism, but just as deadly are the politics of delay at this most critical time. What's needed in these halls is the understanding that fairness goes hand in hand with the need for urgency. Not only is this critical for easing the hardship people are feeling at home and overseas, but also to face off the rise of fascism we're seeing the world over."