{"id":377602,"date":"2025-05-08T08:41:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377602"},"modified":"2025-05-08T08:41:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:41:30","slug":"guardian-former-pm-tony-blair-is-a-serious-threat-to-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377602","title":{"rendered":"Guardian: Former PM Tony Blair is a \u201cserious threat to climate action\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From green hero to zero. The Guardian even threw in a big oil smear against their former climate hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How \u2018out of touch\u2019 Tony Blair became a serious threat to climate action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before his call for a net zero \u2018reset\u2019, there had been criticism of ex-PM\u2019s lucrative links with fossil fuel nations<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Fiona Harvey<\/a> Environment editor Mon 5 May 2025 21.17 AEST<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2022, on the sidelines of the Cop27 UN climate conference, the former UK prime minister Tony Blair was holding high-level meetings with senior figures from politics and business<\/a>. His role in the negotiations raised questions for some, who began to worry that, having been a respected elder statesman on the subject \u2013 one who as prime minister crafted the UK\u2019s first real climate measures, and made it the priority for the UK presidency of the G8 group of countries in 2005<\/a> \u2013 he might now be becoming, in the words of one Whitehall insider, \u201ca serious threat to sensible climate policy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Tony Blair] \u201cIn developed countries, voters feel they\u2019re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPolitical leaders by and large know that the debate has become irrational. But they\u2019re terrified of saying so, for fear of being accused of being \u2018climate deniers\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after resigning as prime minister, Blair took up an international role as Middle East peace envoy<\/a>, a position he would keep until 2015. He also moved quickly to forge lucrative partnerships<\/a> for his thinktank and his former commercial consultancy, Tony Blair Associates, landing a multimillion-pound deal advising the Saudi Arabian government on modernising the country, even continuing after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>. He facilitated deals with the Chinese for PetroSaudi<\/a> and TBI was paid millions for consultancy to the United Arab Emirates government<\/a> in the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/may\/05\/tony-blair-serious-threat-climate-policy-out-of-touch<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Blair didn\u2019t criticise Net Zero as a goal, what he said is the economic fallout from racing to Net Zero too quickly might turn people against climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Former British PM Tony Blair Slams Net Zero as “Irrational”<\/a><\/blockquote>