Government Official
Ed Miliband
Parliamentary House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Ed Miliband, who is former Labour Party leader, is currently the MP for Doncaster North. He was also the first ever Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) which is now the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It was during his leadership of DECC that he championed the Climate Change bill that became the Climate Change Act of 2008. The Act was passed in parliament by an overwhelming cross-party majority. Mr Miliband criticised the merging of the DECC with the business department stating that this would lead to reduced priority on climate change issues as the name of the department shows its priorities. His work on climate change issues has continued even after stepping down as Labour leader where he focused his strength on forming a coalition that would push for much stronger environmental policies. He has strongly encouraged the government to ratify the Agreement. He has also been advocating for the UK to be the first country in the world to pass a law that reduces net carbon emissions to zero. This would go to 100% reduction, more ambitious than the current UK emissions targets of 80% by 2050.
Contact: ed.miliband.mp@parliament.uk
Climate Program Advocate
Greg Clark
Parliamentary House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Greg Clark is a Member of Parliament for Tunbridge Wells constituency. He was formerly the appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in 2008 and after that he was Minister of Cities. He is known for being a champion of sustainability issues. During his term as Shadow Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, he was in charge of two “landmark” papers on climate change that would set out how the government would make Britain a leader in low carbon economy. As Minister of Cities, he continued championing the low carbon economy across cities in the UK. Greg Clark is now the current Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He assumed this position in July 2016 after this department was formed by merging the department of energy and the department of business. Even though climate is no longer a part of the name of the department, climate issues still fall under this department.
Contact: gregclarkmp@parliament.uk
Climate Program Opponent
Nigel Lawson
Parliamentary House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Nigel Lawson was Member of Parliament for the constituency of Dalby from 1974 to 1992 when he retired. He currently sits in the House of Lords. Lord Lawson, who is coined as one of the leading climate change skeptics in the UK, is also the founder of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. He launched the foundation together with Dr. Benny Peiser in the House of Lords in 2009—in the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit. The Global Warming Policy Foundation is a think tank that is concerned about costs and other implications of many of the climate policies presently being advocated for. The organization claims to encourage a balanced coverage of climate change issues by the media and has (in their words), “created a popular website that is subjecting climate policies and claims by governments and campaigners to dispassionate analysis based on hard evidence and economic rigour”.
Contact: contactholmember@parliament.uk
Learn More
For more on Ed Miliband’s biography see: http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/edward-miliband/1510
See article for more on Ed Miliband’s call for net zero emissions: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/06/ed-miliband-calls-for-law-co2-emissions-target-legally-binding-paris-climate-talks
More on Ed Miliband and ratification of Paris Agreement: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36654281
For more on Ed Miliband’s position of formation of Department of BEIS: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-stupid-to-abolish-department-of-energy-and-climate-change_uk_5787b1cde4b0f4bc5946cde6
More on Greg Clark’s biography: https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/Greg-Clark/1578
More on Greg Clark and low carbon cities: http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/climate-leader-interviews/greg_clark_minister_for_cities_in_the_uk_is_championing_the_low_carbon_econ
For more about the Global Warming Policy Foundation see: http://www.thegwpf.org/who-we-are/
For More on Nigel Lawson’s biography see: https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-lawson-of-blaby/1039