COP26: Major companies won over, says former Suffolk MP Lord Deben

Lord Deben was Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal until 2010, then known as John Gummer

Former Environment Secretary Lord Deben said he was more positive about COP26 after seeing a "fundamental change" in the way major companies view the need to cut carbon emissions.

But the ex-MP for Suffolk Coastal said it was a "battle street by street" to limit global temperature rises.

He criticised "climate deniers" who were failing to deliver on tackling climate change.

Lord Deben is attending COP26 as chair of the Climate Change Committee.

Protests are taking place at the conference

In an interview with BBC Politics East, Lord Deben, who was known as John Gummer when he was an MP in Suffolk between 1979 and 2010, said he saw at COP26 the leaders of major companies were "really committed" to the environmental agenda.

"It is a fundamental change and it is the financial world that has pushed that change because it seems to me that the people who invest have now realised that if you are going to invest with certainty you have to invest in a green future," he said.

Lord Deben said he was pleased councils, like Suffolk County Council, were committed to the environmental message.

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia addressed COP 26 United Nations Climate Change Conference on 1 November 2021 in Glasgow

He said as well as county and district councils, the government should work with parish councils.

"I think we have have to discover a new way of sharing the work because we are not going to win this battle, except if we win it street by street," he said.

Lord Deben said COP26 still had obstacles to overcome.

"The difficulty is that we still have some people who are really climate deniers. They pretend that they believe in it all but don't deliver," he said.

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Politics East airs on BBC One in the East on Sunday 7 November at 10:00 BST and can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer afterwards.