Davidson must tell May to help save the planet →

First published in the Scotsman as an oped: https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/iain-keith-davidson-must-tell-may-to-help-save-the-planet-1-4452125

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. So when Theresa May was snapped holding hands with Donald Trump at the White House it told a clear story – May intends for the UK to walk hand in hand with Trump’s America. But with the G7 leaders meeting this week, the question is, how far will May really follow Trump?

Two years ago, it was the G7 that laid the groundwork for the historic Paris climate agreement. Now Trump is trying to bully the world’s biggest economies to drop their ambition to phase out carbon pollution, which is the only way to stop climate catastrophe. Not content with gutting environmental protections in the US, he is brazenly threatening this landmark deal and our future.

Reassuringly, there is a massive global effort happening right now to isolate Trump and limit the damage of his climate broadside. One hundred countries, including China, India, Europe and even oil-rich Saudi Arabia, have spoken in defence of the deal and pledged to continue with or without the US.

The Conservative party just launched their manifesto vowing to step up their international leadership on climate. The first test of that leadership will be at the G7, where May faces a difficult political calculation – stand up to Trump on climate change or stay silent in the expectation of getting the UK a better trade deal post-Brexit. But there is a sliver of hope – Scotland can provide May with the clarity and courage she’ll need to take on America.

Scotland is fortunate enough to have cross-party consensus on climate action. But Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, is best positioned to change May’s mind. She’s called for more renewable energy and electric cars in Scotland, and, with the Conservatives hoping for a Scottish breakthrough in the election, right now she has the Prime Minister’s ear.

What better way to show Scotland that the Tories really have changed than for her to pick up the phone to the Prime Minister and call on her to firmly commit with the G7 next week to ambitious climate policies. Making that call would be an act of leadership, not just for Scotland, but for the world – not an opportunity that comes along often for a Scottish Tory.

This is one of those rare political moments when one person actually can make a world of difference. Germany, Italy, France and Canada – along with hundreds of businesses, cities and investors – are all trying to stop Mr Trump. So he’s hoping for May’s support to ensure he’s not completely isolated at the G7. Davidson can send a signal to May that letting Trump write the entire planet’s death warrant is not in the UK’s interests and certainly not in Scotland’s.

The Scottish people have made it very clear how they feel about the climate issue. Scotland is already a champion in clean energy, which is providing thousands of jobs, and 70 per cent of Scots want to see strong action on climate change.

If her past statements are to be believed, Davidson already knows this. She’s said that climate change is a threat to our economy, our environment and our prosperity. But the Conservatives in Scotland have said a lot of things that most Scots didn’t believe they would follow through on. If Davidson wants people’s votes, this is a perfect opportunity for her to put her words into action.

The overwhelming majority of countries recognise that responding to the climate crisis can invigorate their economies and reshape the landscape for a cleaner, greener future. The new Conservative manifesto vows to offer the international leadership needed, but the question remains whether May will bring that leadership to the G7 or pursue a hand in hand policy with President Trump to undermine that future. Millions around the world want the richest nations to recommit to the urgent action we need on climate. If Ruth Davidson is serious about leading in Scotland, she’ll speak out before Trump leads us by the hand towards global climate catastrophe.

Iain Keith, born in Aberdeen, is a Campaign Director with the global civic movement Avaaz. He has been shaping UN global climate negotiations for over a decade, and was one of the leaders behind the People’s Climate March, the single largest climate mobilisation in history.

Could France and the UK score a climate win today?

The embattled leaders of two of Europe’s powerhouses are sitting down today. With current headlines dominated by scandals and political tit-for-tats, they each need something big and bold to help them emerge from this meeting with positive momentum for the months ahead, and a new alliance to pull Europe’s climate ambitions up by the bootstraps could be just the tonic.

British PM Cameron and French President Hollande are facing stiff opposition at home and flagging legacies. President Hollande has been embroiled in an affair scandal and has the lowest approval rating of any French president ever. And the UK PM is trying to fend off rebellions from his own party on immigration and other tricky issues. They’re also both suffering from climate change in action -- meteorologists have just said it’s the wettest January for 100 years in the UK, and large swathes of France and the UK have been underwater for weeks.

Both leaders, and many of their voters, understand the scientific evidence which points to an accelerating climate crisis. Last week, over 220,000 Avaaz members from the UK, France and elsewhere in Europe sent personal messages to Commission President Barroso, calling for an ambitious European climate plan, including a carbon reduction target of 50%, binding renewable energy targets, and new energy efficiency goals. The aim was to influence Europe’s climate ambitions from now until 2030.

Unfortunately the Commission published a white paper with just a 40% target. This number, the product of political jockeying in Brussels, and is even below what the Commission’s own analysis suggested would be the economically optimal goal for unleashing a wave of green technology and job creation.

But the Commission doesn't have the last word -- it’s now up to European governments to lock the EU’s climate commitments in the next eight weeks. Our best hope is that the three major players -- the UK, France and Germany -- treat the Commission’s proposal as a floor not a ceiling. So today’s meeting is a vital first step to securing that leadership, and Germany and France then meet on February 19th.

The UK and France have successfully worked together before -- the Channel Tunnel is a great example of what they can achieve when they put their minds to it -- and now it’s time to do so again. If we’re going to leave a world to our children and grandchildren without increasingly violent storms, disruption to food (and wine!) supply and rising sea levels, we need an ambitious agreement next time the world negotiates a global climate treaty, which just happens to be in Paris 2015. Today, if Cameron and Hollande seize their meeting to agree on 50% cuts for Europe, they can score a big climate win and set Paris up for success.

For one thing, the colors are much more distinct in SoHo. They’re brighter. Perhaps that’s a reflection on the people living here. But for many of the cast-iron buiildings that give SoHo it’s unmistakable character, the reason for their bright coloring is actually pretty obvious: whenever you construct anything from wrought iron, it’s going to look like, well, wrought iron.

So the colors of SoHo as they’re known, or at least as they ought to be known, the colors that are just a street photographers dream come true (where else can you find so many amazing backdrops?), are actually the result of many, many coats of bright paints. And they light up a photo in ways even a flash cannot.