REACTION: Oxfam response to reports that the Prime Minster is planning to roll back on key climate policies

“As leaders prepare to gather at the UN Climate Summit later today, it is bleakly ironic that the Prime Minster has instead decided to stay at home and undermine those efforts, reportedly mulling over whether to set fire to the last of his government's climate credentials.

“Any further weakening of the government's climate policies is a complete betrayal of people living in poverty - both in the UK and abroad – who are most vulnerable to climate change. The Government needs to put long-term interests ahead of short-term politics and that means a fast and fair move towards renewable energy.

“It is a false trade-off to suggest that ambitious action to tackle climate change must be at the expense of ordinary people’s pockets. As Oxfam’s report this week revealed, there is no shortage of money among the biggest and richest polluters – what is needed is the political courage to make them pay their fair share for the damage they have caused.”

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Spokespeople available for interview. For more information please contact: Sophie Bowell / +44 (0)7810 814 980 / sbowell@oxfam.org.uk or media.unit@oxfam.org.uk / +44 (0)7748 761999

Notes to editors:

Oxfam’s report Payment Overdue, Fair ways to make polluters across the UK pay for climate justice published this week highlights that fair taxes on the UK’s biggest polluters - namely fossil fuel companies and the extremely rich – could have raised up to £23bn last year. Press release here.