Climate action must work for ‘people on all incomes,’ Burnham tells COP31

ANTALYA, Turkey — World leaders and industry must make electric cars and heat pumps affordable if they are to ensure “people on all incomes” can “make the green transition,” U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the COP31 climate summit. During a flying visit to this year’s U.N.

conference in Turkey, Burnham — who has made affordability his core domestic political focus — reaffirmed the U.K.’s commitment to the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But he warned that the world had “not moved as quick as I had hoped in the past five years” to show citizens that climate action and electrification have cost-of-living upsides. “The last of these meetings I attended was COP26 as the mayor of Greater Manchester,” Burnham said, referring to the 2021 summit hosted by the U.K.

He warned at the time that the climate movement must not lose sight of the “struggles of ordinary families.” “The world feels very different now, and we need to adapt,” Burnham said.