Campaigners criticise Davey’s absence from Bonn climate talks

Youth activists have taken energy secretary Ed Davey to task for failing to attend climate talks held in Bonn last week.

Only around 50 ministers of a possible 196 turned up to the high-level meetings on 5 and 6 June, including from China. The ministerial is a stepping stone to the next major UN climate summit in Lima, Peru, in December. That in turn leads up to Paris in 2015, when countries are set to sign a global climate agreement.

The UK was represented “at senior official levels” and ministers did not normally attend such mid-year meetings, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said. “The secretary of state and ministers are fully behind reaching a global deal in Paris and are talking to many people behind the scenes and are due to attend further international engagements later this year.”

However, campaigners said at previous talks participating governments had committed to send ministers to this session.

In an open letter to Decc, the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC), which sent a delegation to Bonn, said Davey’s absence “showed complete disregard” for countries whose ministers had attended.

The UK should be showing leadership and “solidarity with those nations most vulnerable to climate change”, the group argued.

Louisa Casson, UKYCC co-director, said: “With less than 18 months to go until the world’s governments have agreed to sign a global climate deal, Ed Davey’s no-show casts serious doubts about the UK’s commitment to tackle climate change – the greatest threat facing my generation.”

Campaigners from a number of organisations including Christian Aid and WWF highlighted the shortage on twitter, with the hashtag #missingministers.

Mohammed Adow from Christian Aid told the BBC: “It undermines their commitment to craft a global deal when they don’t show up, it sends a distressing signal.”