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Thank you Kew Gardens, for hosting my first set piece speech as Foreign Secretary.聽

Just after hosting the Colombian President of this year鈥檚 Nature COP in Cali this morning.聽

Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have dominated my time in office so far.聽But I was very clear in Opposition that, in this job, I would focus on the most profound and universal source of global disorder 鈥� the climate and nature emergency.聽聽

Over my political career, it has become clearer to me how this crisis defines our time.聽As a young backbencher, I admired Robin Cook making climate a geopolitical issue for the first time 鈥� he was a pioneer, ahead of his time.聽聽

Four years ago, I spoke about the essential link between climate justice and racial justice.聽And as Shadow Foreign Secretary, I set out how our response to this crisis both can create unparalleled economic opportunities and is the central geopolitical challenge of our age.聽

Time and again, it is the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of this crisis.聽From Ella Kissi-Debrah 鈥� a nine-year-old Londoner killed, in part, by unlawful levels of air pollution near her home, to communities in the Caribbean, whose leaders tell me they feel neglected, as they struggle with stronger, more frequent tropical storms caused by a crisis not of their making.聽聽

So our goal is progressive 鈥� a liveable planet for all, now and in the future.聽

But we need a hard-headed, realist approach towards using all levers at our disposal, from the diplomatic to the financial.聽聽

And I say to you now: these are not contradictions.聽Because nothing could be more central to the UK鈥檚 national interest than delivering global progress on arresting rising temperatures.聽聽聽

My argument to you today, is that demands for action from the world鈥檚 most vulnerable and the requirements for delivering security for British citizens, are fundamentally aligned.聽聽And this is because this crisis is not some discrete policy area, divorced from geopolitics and insecurity.聽聽

The threat may not feel as urgent as a terrorist or an imperialist autocrat.聽But it is more fundamental.聽It is systemic.聽It鈥檚 pervasive.聽And accelerating towards us at pace.聽

Look around the world.聽Countries are scrambling to secure critical minerals, just as great powers once raced to control oil 鈥� we cannot let this become a source of conflict.聽聽

In the Arctic and Antarctic, global warming is driving geopolitical competition over the resources lying beneath the ice.聽And in the Amazon, there have been the worst droughts ever recorded, partly as a result of deforestation.聽In the Caribbean, I saw on day one in this job the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl 鈥� the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record.聽And in places like the Sahel, South Sudan and Syria, rising temperatures are making water and productive land even scarcer.聽

These are not random events delivered from the heavens.聽They are failures of politics, of regulation, and of international cooperation.聽These failures pour fuel onto existing conflicts and regional rivalries, driving extremism, displacing communities and increasing humanitarian need.聽And it would be a further failure of imagination to hope that they will stay far from our shores. That we can keep them away.聽

Let鈥檚 take migration.聽We are already seeing that climate change is uprooting communities across the world.聽And by 2050, the World Bank鈥檚 worst-case estimate is that climate change could drive 200 million people to leave their homes.聽

Or we could take health.聽The World Health Organisation says climate change is now the biggest threat to human health.聽聽

We saw in the pandemic how quickly an infectious disease could spread from animals to humans, and then from a city the other side of the world to here in Britain.聽This becomes only more likely as the climate and nature crisis grows.聽And this crisis threatens the things we take most for granted, from the food that we eat to the air that we breathe.聽聽

But despite all of this, there remains a tendency for climate and nature policy to end up siloed.聽Too often, it has felt the preserve of experts and campaigners.聽Fluent in the sometimes impenetrable dialect of COPs.聽But distant from others working on foreign policy and on national security.聽And that has to change.聽聽

Don鈥檛 get me wrong 鈥� we absolutely need campaigners like those in this room, or experts like those working here at Kew.聽And I am grateful to them all.聽聽

But today, I am committing to you that while I am Foreign Secretary, action on the climate and nature crisis will be central to all that the Foreign Office does.聽聽

This is critical given the scale of the threat, but also the scale of the opportunity.聽The chance to achieve clean and secure energy, lower bills and drive growth for the UK, and to preserve the natural world around us, on which all prosperity ultimately depends.聽聽

The truth is that in the last few years, something went badly wrong in our national debate on climate change and net zero.聽I take no pleasure in saying that.聽

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We have seen with the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, the Green Deal, in the European Union, and the accelerating transition in China, foreign policy, economic and industrial policy becoming increasingly intertwined.聽聽

That is why the Prime Minister is resetting Britain鈥檚 approach to climate and nature, putting it at the centre of our cross-Government missions.聽聽

Approaching 100 days in office now, you can already see the difference this has made. Lifting the de facto ban on onshore wind in England.聽Pledging to end new oil and gas licenses while guaranteeing a fair transition in the North Sea.聽Switching on Great British Energy to crowd investment into clean power projects.聽Launching a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan, for completion before the end of this year, so that we can clean our rivers, plant millions more trees, improve our air quality and halt the decline in species.聽And with over 90% of the UK鈥檚 biodiversity within our Overseas Territories, looking to expand the Blue Belt programme to increase marine protection.聽聽

This domestic programme is not just essential to our economy, but to restoring our international credibility.聽聽We are bringing an end to our climate diplomacy of being 鈥淒o as I say, not as I do鈥�.聽But this domestic ambition on its own is not enough.聽聽

That鈥檚 why this issue has been on the agenda for nearly every meeting that I鈥檝e had with another Minister in my early weeks, from our closest friends in the G7, to the world鈥檚 biggest emitter but largest renewables producer in China, to India, and to members of ASEAN, with whom I announced a new joint Green Transition Fund in the first few weeks in office.聽

With Ed Miliband and Steve Reed leading COP negotiations on climate and nature, we have a pair of experienced, determined negotiators.聽And with Anneliese Dodds as Minister for Development, we will be a united Government team, all drawing on the FCDO鈥檚 diplomatic and development heft to push for the ambition needed to keep 1.5 degrees alive.聽聽

To drive forward this cross-Government reset even further, I am announcing today that we will appoint new UK Special Representatives for Climate Change and Nature.聽These will support me, together with Ed Miliband and Steve Reed respectively, as we reboot internationally, showing that whether you are from the Global North or the Global South, we want to forge genuine partnerships, to tackle this crisis together.聽聽

And I want this diplomatic effort focused particularly on three priorities.聽聽

First, we will build a Global Clean Power Alliance.聽

This Government has set a landmark goal 鈥� to be the first major economy to deliver clean power by 2030.聽We will leverage that ambition to build an Alliance committed to accelerating the clean energy transition.聽And today we are firing the starting gun on forming this new coalition.聽聽

The International Energy Agency forecasts consumption not just of oil, but of all fossil fuels, will peak this decade.聽We are rapidly discovering new, more efficient ways to reduce emissions.聽Global investment in clean energy is now almost double the investment in fossil fuels.聽

But while some countries are moving ahead in this transition, many are getting left behind.聽聽

Without clean power, it will be impossible to decarbonise vast sectors of the economy, such as transport.聽We therefore need to accelerate the rollout of renewables across the globe in a way that this Government is doing at home.聽聽

Now, of course there are different obstacles for different countries.聽But despite several other valuable initiatives pushing forward the energy transition, there is no equivalent grouping of countries at the vanguard of the transition, reaching across the Global North and the Global South together, dedicated to overcoming these barriers.聽聽

So the Alliance needs to focus on scaling up global investment.聽Emerging market and developing economies outside China account for just fifteen per cent of global clean energy investment.聽The cost of capital in the Global South is often triple that in the Global North.聽And almost 700 million people have no access to electricity at all.聽

We must unlock global finance on a far, far, larger scale, so we can back ambitious plans from those moving away from fossil fuels 鈥� as Anneliese Dodds has just been doing in Jakarta, discussing Indonesia鈥檚 Just Energy Transition Partnership, and close the clean power gap by helping more countries to leapfrog fossil fuels to renewable power systems.聽聽

The Alliance should also focus on diversifying the production and supply of critical minerals.聽Copper and cobalt. Lithium and nickel.聽The lifeblood of the new economy.聽We need to bring these commodities to market faster.聽While avoiding the mistakes of the past, by helping developing countries to secure the economic benefits while promoting the highest environmental standards for mineral extraction.聽

The Alliance could inject impetus into expanding grids and storage as well.聽The IEA assesses that the world needs to add or refurbish the equivalent of the entire existing grid by 2040.聽

And we are working on a global energy storage pledge at COP29.聽We have to plug the gaps in meeting these targets.聽聽

Finally, the Alliance can increase deployment of innovative clean energy.聽There is huge demand for affordable clean technologies from green hydrogen to sustainable cooking and cooling.聽And we have got to progress commercialisation of the tech with the greatest potential.聽聽

And we will take a phased and inclusive approach to building the Alliance, listening to those leading the way on clean power and those who share our ambitions.聽聽聽

But the shared goal is clear 鈥� making Net Zero Power a reality, everywhere.聽聽

Second, we must unlock much, much more climate and nature finance.聽This is critical to my progressive realist approach to the crisis.聽聽

Tackling this crisis requires global consensus 鈥� that is the principle at the heart of the COP process.聽聽And we can only reach a consensus by heeding others鈥� concerns as well as our own.聽As I know all too well, countries of the Global South suffered great injustices in the past.聽聽

But I have heard repeatedly our partners鈥� frustrations at the unfairness of the global system today 鈥� particularly how difficult it is for them to get international climate finance.聽

As my good friend Mia Mottley argues so powerfully, the problem is systemic.聽聽

For example, Africa is on the climate frontline.聽Natural disasters alone have affected 400 million Africans this century. Yet Africa receives just over three per cent of climate finance flows. And debt servicing alone averages ten per cent of Africa鈥檚 GDP.

Change is critical.聽There is no pathway to countries鈥� development aspirations without climate resilience, action on the nature crisis and access to clean energy, and no pathway to a sustainable future without development that leaves no one behind.聽

The agreement on loss and damage at the last COP was an inspiring example of what the world can achieve by working together.聽聽That was the same spirit in which developed countries committed in 2009 to 100 billion dollars a year in international climate finance.聽聽

Ahead of the Spending Review, we are carefully reviewing our plans to do so. And at the same time, we are pushing for an ambitious new climate finance goal focused on developing countries at COP29 in November.聽

Because that is the right thing to do.聽But, especially in times of fiscal constraint, we need to become more creative in unlocking private sector flows for the green transition, and especially adaptation, across the Global South.聽聽

London is the leading green global financial centre.聽And I have been delighted to learn how UK experts have been developing more effective financing models.聽聽For example, Britain helped establish the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility back in 2007, the first such fund that pays out after a specific trigger such as earthquakes or tropical cyclones.聽聽

And after Hurricane Beryl, it once again proved its worth, paying out over 76 million dollars as the region began to rebuild.聽

I am determined to restore Britain鈥檚 reputation for commitment and innovation in the world of development finance.聽This starts with the multilateral development banks.聽聽

And that鈥檚 why, subject to reforms, we support a capital increase for the IBRD, the world鈥檚 largest development bank and a key source of climate finance.聽

And that鈥檚 why next month I will lay before Parliament a UK guarantee for the Asian Development Bank, which will unlock over 1.2 billion dollars in climate finance from the Bank for developing countries in the region.聽聽

But impact is not simply a question of more creativity.聽To tackle systemic problems, we also need to reform the system itself.聽聽

So, for example, we are co-chairing with the Dominican Republic the Green Climate Fund this year and driving forward reforms to speed up developing countries鈥� access to it.聽聽

But I have also heard our partners calling for international tax rules to work better for developing countries, for unsustainable debt to be tackled more rapidly, and for obstacles that inhibit the flow of private capital to be addressed.聽

My ambition here is clear: for the UK to lead the G7 debate on international institutional reform.聽

Third, we must not just halt, but reverse the decline in global biodiversity.聽聽

Sometimes we become numb to the scale of the nature crisis.聽One million species facing extinction, including one third of both marine mammals and coral reefs.聽And wildlife populations fallen by 69 per cent since 1970, mostly due to a staggering 83 per cent collapse in freshwater species.聽

Biodiversity loss is as much of a threat as changes to our climate.聽And with nature loss undermining progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, action on nature is also pivotal to genuine partnerships with the Global South.聽聽

We need to bolster the global effort to protect at least thirty per cent of the planet鈥檚 land and ocean by 2030.聽So we are completely committed to ratifying the High Seas Treaty, and to securing agreement on a Plastics Treaty.聽And here I pay tribute to a predecessor Zac Goldsmith.聽

And I have been looking hard at the successes of our development programmes on nature.聽One programme has mobilised well over a billion pounds to protect and restore forests across nearly 9 million hectares of land.聽And in the future we plan to expand this programme in the Congo Basin rainforest, the second largest on the planet.聽

Some of our funding has also been used for incredible research.聽聽Few would believe that, thanks to the FCDO, a South African business is trialling new biodegradable nets that, if lost, leave no toxins or micro-plastics behind.聽I want many many more examples like this.聽聽

The FCDO spends around five per cent of its development budget on research.聽And I am announcing today that we are starting to develop a new programme of research into nature and water specifically with over one hundred researchers and officials having just met in Kenya to begin this agenda.聽聽聽

I am also looking at how we deliver our development programmes on the ground.聽

Indigenous communities particularly are important in this regard 鈥� like the incredible female sustainable business owners I met in the Amazon last year 鈥� are nature鈥檚 best custodians.聽聽

Nature has been declining 30 per cent less, and 30 per cent more slowly, in indigenous lands than in the world as a whole.聽Evidence shows that putting local communities at the centre of decision-making leads to better outcomes for the natural world.聽

This is the model of development that I believe in.聽The modernised approach to development this Government will be implementing.聽The spirit of partnership, not paternalism, in action.聽聽

For me this is deeply personal.聽Far from here, in Guyana鈥檚 rainforests, lies Sophia PointI established this small conservation centre five years ago, with my wife, in one of the last unspoilt biodiversity hotspots in the world.聽聽

And it was fascinating last week to discuss it with Sir David Attenborough last week and hear his reminiscences of visiting those same rainforests as a young man.聽

I told Sir David that his first book, Zoo Quest to Guiana, came out 1956, the year my father emigrated to Britain.聽聽

In fact my Father used to bring me to Kew Gardens. I mean, I look back, he鈥檚 now not alive so I can鈥檛 ask him, but I now realise he brought me here to somehow be in touch with Guyana and those rainforests.聽聽

And we discussed how Sir David鈥檚 work and that of Sophia Point is rooted in a concept common to the indigenous people of that part of South America and many farmers and others in Britain and around the globe.聽聽

Stewardship of the natural world.聽

That we have both an interest and a responsibility to maintain a liveable planet for ourselves and future generations.聽聽

That is our goal.聽Ultimately, there will be no global stability, without climate stability.聽

And there will be no climate stability, without a more equal partnership between the Global North and the Global South.聽

For Britain to play its part, we must reset here at home, and reconnect abroad.聽That is what this Government will deliver.聽So that, together, we can build a better future for all.