We need a future where everyone has access to affordable, clean energy. Where workers have secure, well-paid jobs. Where communities have a say in their futures, and where we protect our planet for generations to come.
This future is possible. But it requires the UK government to show real leadership on climate, and put people and planet before corporate profits.
After a summer of devastating heatwaves, wildfires and floods, the need for urgent action on climate has never been clearer. Yet the UK government has just approved the controversial Jackdaw gas field, and a decision on Rosebank – the UK's largest undeveloped oil field – is looming.
But more North Sea oil and gas won't lower our energy bills, deliver well-paid jobs, or the secure future we need. It will only deepen our dependence on fossil fuels while corporations continue to profit.
We shouldn't have to choose between protecting our planet and protecting people's livelihoods. We can, and must, do both.
A just transition means investing in publicly owned renewable energy, a fairer food system, decent jobs and strong public services, while ensuring workers and communities, both here in the UK and across the Global South, are supported through the transition rather than left to pay the price.
On 9 November, world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, will gather in Türkiye for the UN climate talks, COP31. Governments have an opportunity to deliver a better future for us all by backing a just transition at COP31 (through the Belem–Antalya Mechanism for Just Transition) that puts people and planet before corporate profits.
Write to the Energy Secretary now and demand that the UK government champions a genuinely just transition at COP31.
