America's Secret Sauce Is At Risk, UK Climate Envoy Told SXSW London

King Charles III at SXSW London - from Royal Family website
SXSW London last week drew a panoply of high-level speakers, from His Majesty, King Charles III, to Idris Elba, Orlando Bloom and Bryce Dallas Howard, to business leaders from across the U.K. and the global economy. This was the first SXSW outside the annual Austin, Texas event. A few other government leaders spoke too, including Rachel Kyte, UK Climate Envoy, who spoke at SXSW London's Nature & Climate House, which was hosted by Bellwethers Group.
As usual, Rachel Kyte did not mince words, while also showing her diplomatic skills.
Rachel Kyte (l), UK Climate Envoy & David Gelles of The New York Times, at Nature & Climate House, ... More SXSW London
SXSW London Street sign
She added that, 'the reason why people maybe vote for a populous party or for a party, fringe either the left or the right, they vote because they feel insecure economically, they feel socially insecure, and they're just not sure that the direction of travel is going to go up and not down. And we have to get into that faith.'
Map of funding distributed by Inflation Reduction Act etc. - whitehouse.gov
Gelles pointed out that the Biden administration's investments in clean energy boosted the U.S.'s ability to compete with China in building a clean energy-climate resilient economy. But the Trump administration is trying to gut it all, and knee-capping the scientific community and the climate movement in the U.S., including 'firing scientists, upending regulations,' and defunding and closing scientific research centers.
What does Kyte think of the Trump administration's actions?
'The second thing I think, is that the loss of the climate team at NASA is fundamentally disruptive to the global enterprise of understanding what climate change is and how it's affecting the planet,' Kyte stressed, adding that, because its work was 'fundamental to the work of the (U.N.) International Panel on Climate Change,' that 'the destruction of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Weather Service) has a huge impact, not just on the United States.'
Demonstrators attend rally outside National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters to ... More oppose the recent worker firings, in Sliver Spring, Md., on Monday, March 3, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Kyte added that these cuts are 'scary' for anyone in the U.S., especially as hurricane season begins. Kyte lived in the U.S. for 15 years, including when she served as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All.
'Americans are less secure,' Kyte warned. As a result of the Trump administration's actions, 'There are going to be less well paid jobs in the renewable energy sector for sure, and, these (actions) are undermining or hollowing out the potential for green growth.'
'The future is cleaner energy,' she added, 'and it is remarkable that that would not be the secret sauce of the future of a strong America.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Rantzen warns peers not to hamper progress of assisted dying law

Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has urged members of the House of Lords not to block landmark legislation on the issue. The Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday, but opponents have vowed to continue their resistance in the unelected chamber. The legislation could face a difficult passage through the Lords, with critics poised to table amendments to add further restrictions and safeguards to the Bill. Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. 'Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose. 'So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.' Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to 'buzz of to Zurich' to use the Dignitas clinic. Paralympian and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told BBC Breakfast: 'We're getting ready for it to come to the Lord's and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger. 'We've been told it's the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not very high bar for other legislation. 'So I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.' Conservative peer and disability rights campaigner Lord Shinkwin said the narrow Commons majority underlined the need for peers to take a close look at the legislation. He told Today 'I think the House of Lords has a duty to expose and to subject this Bill to forensic scrutiny' but 'I don't think it's a question of blocking it so much as performing our duty as a revising chamber'. He added: 'The margin yesterday was so close that many MPs would appreciate the opportunity to look at this again in respect of safeguards as they relate to those who feel vulnerable, whether that's disabled people or older people.' Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who steered the Bill through the Commons, told the PA news agency she hoped peers would not seek to derail the legislation, which could run out of parliamentary time if it is held up in the Lords. She said: 'I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.' A group of 27 Labour MPs who voted against the legislation said: 'We were elected to represent both of those groups and are still deeply concerned about the risks in this Bill of coercion of the old and discrimination against the disabled, people with anorexia and black, Asian and minority ethnic people, who we know do not receive equitable health care. 'As the Bill moves to the House of Lords it must receive the scrutiny that it needs. Not about the principles of assisted dying but its application in this deeply flawed Bill.' Meanwhile, one of the leading opponents of the Bill, Conservative Danny Kruger, said 'these are apocalyptic times'. In a series of tweets on Friday night, the East Wiltshire MP – who is at odds with his mother, Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith in her support for legalisation – accused assisted dying campaigners of being 'militant anti-Christians' who had failed to 'engage with the detail of the Bill'.

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Labour policy ‘actively working against job creation', says Currys boss

The boss of one of Britain's biggest electricals retailers has criticised government policy for 'actively working against job creation' amid a raft of tax increases and looming worker rights reforms. Writing in The Telegraph, Alex Baldock, the chief executive of Currys, said Labour risked making it 'harder, riskier and more expensive to hire people' as Angela Rayner prepares to implement the Employment Rights Bill, which is making its way through the House of Lords. Mr Baldock said the retailer had already faced a 13pc overnight increase in the cost of employing part-time workers from Rachel Reeves's £25bn National Insurance raid, while its property tax bill also rose. He said Currys was now facing 'new and counter-productive red tape in the shape of employment law changes'. Mr Baldock added: 'Smart people know that changing your mind in the face of compelling evidence is a sign of strength, not weakness. 'It's not too late for the Government to change its mind on employment law changes that would lead to less employment.' It comes amid growing warnings from bosses that the Government risks derailing its growth ambitions by piling higher taxes and more red tape on businesses. In a recent poll by the Institute of Directors, a quarter of business leaders said the Employment Rights Bill made it likely that they would make redundancies. Under the planned reforms, workers will be entitled to contracts with a minimum number of weekly hours baked in, giving them the same number of hours as they have worked in the recent past. However, retail and hospitality chiefs have called for a rethink of the plans amid concerns that the changes risk stopping them from hiring extra people during crucial trading periods such as Christmas. Bosses have said they cannot afford to offer everyone more shifts all year round when stores are quieter. Mr Baldock said businesses including Currys were 'ready to play our part in getting Britain back to work', adding: 'Enlist us in this cause, don't hammer us.' In a House of Lords debate in April, Lord Wolfson, the boss of Next, said the employment rights reforms risked making it 'almost impossible for businesses to offer additional voluntary hours to workers' because they could then end up overstaffed at some times of the year. Lord Wolfson said: 'There is a world of difference between tackling potentially abusive zero-hours contracts and eliminating the flexibility that legitimate part-time contracts provide to those who need and want them.' The Government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, a spokesman previously said: 'We've consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will continue to work closely with employers to ensure new laws work for them while putting money back into the pockets of working people.' By Alex Baldock, the chief executive of Currys The Government talks a lot about growth and jobs, with plenty of warm words and encouragement for growth drivers such as high-tech manufacturing, life sciences and the creative industries. Next week, no doubt, these will be at the heart of theGovernment's new industrial strategy. And more power to such exciting sectors, where the UK enjoys a real competitive edge. Yet the engine room of the British economy lies elsewhere. The likes of retail, leisure and hospitality may be less glamorous. But they employ 6m people – nearly a quarter of the private sector workforce – bringing prosperity and prospects to everycorner of the country. They're no less innovative, either. Retailer productivity is growing at twice the national rate, as we deploy AI and other technology to improve customer service and empower colleagues. And boosting Britain's moribund productivity, as every economist will tell you, is essential for growth. Nor are these retail and hospitality jobs just any jobs. They're great introductions (or re-introductions) to work. Once we've given colleagues this leg up, and as they gain in confidence and experience, we often find they progress rapidly, taking on more hours, moving into management or moving on to other work with our good wishes. My first job as a spotty teenager was in a high street retailer (Waterstones in Newbury, as it happens), and I'm far from alone. Flexible and entry-level as they often are, retail jobs help people break into the world of work. They help those coming back after having children or caring for their elders – and, crucially, to those seeking a way off benefits. It's crucial because of the UK's biggest domestic challenge today: the human and economic crisis of worklessness. The UK now has almost 1m 16-24 year olds not in employment, education or training, out of fully 3m people not in work because of physical or mental ill health. This is much more than pre-pandemic, and much higher than in other countries. These 3m are exactly the people the Government wants to help off welfare and into work. This is the only way to reduce Britain's ballooning benefits bill, and so avoid further adding to an already punishing and growth-sapping tax burden. It's the only way to help millions of people find the fulfilment (and mental health benefits) of work. Research shows that the vast majority of them want to work – they just need the right opportunities and the right support. 'Everyone who can work, should work', says the prime minister. Where better for them to work than retail and hospitality? If not there, where? It's not hard to connect the dots here. The country needs more growth and millions of new jobs. Retail and hospitality are where these are to be found. So, as well as lavishing goodies on the sexy growth industries, surely Government must be looking to help such big, high-employing, high-productivity sectors as retail and hospitality? If only. In fact, government policy is actively working against job creation. Promised business rates 'relief' actually increased many bills. Punitive increases in National Insurance disproportionately hit employers who have many part-time workers. For example, the cost to Currys of employing such workers increased by 13pc overnight. Now, and despite promised deregulation, we face new and counter-productive red tape in the shape of employment law changes. Retailers are busier at some times than others, as Saturday or Christmas, as shoppers will have noticed. So retailers need to flex up and down the number of colleagues on the shopfloor accordingly. That works for colleagues looking for flexible work, for customers to get good service and for retailers to make an honest profit. But the Government's so-called 'guaranteed hours' proposals will force retailers to offer all colleagues the same number of hours as they've worked in the recent past – and pay for hours we don't need. Even successful retailers such as Currys work on fine margins – we make £1.60 profit for every £100 we sell. We simply can't afford to pay for hours we don't need, especially now those hours cost more. The result will be that retailers have to hire fewer people. It's no wonder that the Retail Jobs Alliance expects over 300,000 retail jobs to be lost in the next three years – and those job losses have already started. Thus government policy threatens the viability of the very jobs it sets out to protect, and this when the country desperately needs us to hire more people, not fewer. Where's the joining of dots here? The frustrating part? Nobody doubts the Government's good intentions. There's much to praise in its long-overdue planning reforms and investment in decaying infrastructure, both essential for growth. The Government has shown it can listen to business when presented with reasoned arguments. For example, it withdrew ill-thought-through recycling proposals inherited from the previous government which would have had the perverse impact of reducing recycling. We welcomed that warmly. Smart people know that changing your mind in the face of compelling evidence is a sign of strength, not weakness. It's not too late for the Government to change its mind on employment law changes that would lead to less employment. It's not too late to address the broken business rates system. It's not too late, instead of making it harder, riskier and more expensive to hire people, to do the reverse. We all want more growth and jobs. Businesses like Currys stand ready to play our part in getting Britain back to work. Enlist us in this cause, don't hammer us. We could be doing so much more to help. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

Bloomberg

3 hours ago

• Bloomberg

Why Taxing the UK's Rich Less May Make Sense

The Laffer Curve does exist. You may not want it to, but it does. The UK's political class is in the process of learning this lesson. One of the first things Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves did was to make the global assets of those living in the UK but domiciled elsewhere for tax purposes (the 'non-doms') subject to UK inheritance tax. Those people have responded to that incentive exactly as one might expect. They are leaving. Exact numbers aren't available, but many financial advisers will tell you of their fast-vanishing high-net worth clients—heading for the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Malta and maybe even the US (there are some 70,000 applications for information on the new ' gold Trump card ' visa, apparently). Henley and Partners, a global relocation company, backs this up. It reports that inquiries on how to become a resident elsewhere were three times higher in the first three months of 2025 than the same period in 2024.