Business secretary Alok Sharma hits out at Extinction Rebellion for its ‘innefective’ methods
Business secretary Alok Sharma has hit out at Extinction Rebellion for its methods, saying the environmental group’s actions will not lead to any real change.
Sharma said at the Conservative party conference that the way to “achieve climate action” was not by “glueing yourself to trains, by glueing yourself to buildings [or] by disprupting peoples lives” in a clear swipe at Extinction Rebellion.
The environmental group gained notoriety last year for its large scale protests, which saw thousands of people in London cause disruptions in an attempt to draw attention to climate change.
The group has pulled stunts such as shutting down London City Airport, blockading parts of Central London and stopping delivery of mainstream daily newspapers.
Reports earlier this year indicated that the government was considering designating Extinction Rebellion as an eco-terrorist group.
Sharma said the group’s methods were ineffective and that curbing climate change could only happen in a capitalist economy.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
“There are people in our country who think that the way you achieve climate action is by glueing yourself to trains, by glueing yourself to buildings, by disrupting people’s lives – that isn’t the way,” he said.
“As Conservatives, we understand that capitalism and the market economy is what has the answer for innovation and delivering on climate action.
“And we’ve shown over the last 30 years, we’ve grown our economy by 75 per cent, but cut emissions by 43 per cent at the same time.”
The UK has pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which is among the most ambitious targets within the G20 group of countries.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said at a fringe Tory party conference event today that climate policy would be one of the top priorities for the UK’s presidency of the G7 next year.
“People should expect to see climate change and tackling climate change as something we will champion very hard next year…and making sure there’s some sort of overlap around what’s happening at those levels,” Sunak said.
Extinction Rebellion was contacted for comment.