Sir Keir Starmer was in his comfort zone on Thursday, waxing lyrical about one of his favourite “missions”.
Speaking at the government’s summit on energy security, the prime minister doubled down on plans for clean energy, which he reaffirmed will boost, not harm, national security – in the face of attacks on net zero policies from the Trump administration and Reform UK.
He said we are “living through a new era of global instability” – that hits locally.
Carers, nurses and teachers are “working harder and harder for the pound in their pocket, but feeling at the same time that they have less control of their lives”.
The problem is Britain’s “overexposure” to the “rollercoaster of international fossil fuel markets” – which leaves people vulnerable to price spikes and vulnerability sparked anywhere in the world.
Homegrown clean energy is the answer, he said. It’s the “only way to take back control of our energy system, deliver energy security and bring down bills for the long term”.
And he’s not alone. Energy analysts broadly agree that more UK-generated clean power protects people from price shocks from energy imported from abroad.
So do most of the other 55-odd governments who attended his summit in London.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her speech that “as our energy dependence on fossil fuels goes down, our security goes up”.
Sir Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen
The glaring exception on Thursday was America.
Its delegate to the summit, acting assistant secretary Tommy Joyce, told the conference that abundant energy “raises people out of poverty and brings health, wealth, and opportunity”.
Few would dispute that.
But he also said climate policies had led to “energy scarcity” that “harms human lives” and attacked “so-called renewables” and the “net zero agenda”.
He was apparently happy to overlook the danger posed by fossil fuels, from air pollution, to price volatility, to the turbocharged LA wildfires or Hurricane Helene. And the fact that US oil and gas production reached record levels under previous president Joe Biden, even as he pursued climate policies too.
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America appeared isolated, as other countries at the summit simply carried on talking up the benefits of clean energy.
On Wednesday, China – America’s greatest rival and the world’s second-largest economy after the US – pledged it would “not slow down its climate actions” and committed to fresh targets.
It is already building more solar farms and wind turbines than anyone else and dominates clean tech supply chains – much to the ire of Team Trump, who rues the way the shift to clean energy empowers China.
Going further off the beaten track, Mr Joyce also quoted the Bible, saying God’s “golden rule” is to love your neighbour: which appears to mean selling it lots of American oil, gas and coal (no mention of US threats to seize control of neighbouring Canada or the Panama Canal).
Whacky phrasing aside, it’s true the world still needs lots of America’s abundant fossil fuels for now.
Europe is desperate for gas, with storage running low and Russian supplies drying up, and President von der Leyen also celebrated the “strategic importance” of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
And the UK relies on America for the majority of its oil imports, and tankers full of LNG.
These fossil fuels are in the mix of deals the US is currently discussing with both the EU and the UK.
So, Europe is staying the course on the energy transition for now. But that comfort zone of confidence may yet be tested by these trade talks.
