Hugh Elliott, British Ambassador to Spain: "Climate change has to be above ideologies"

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In the midst of the Brexit countdown, British Ambassador Hugh Elliott prefers not to speculate on the possibility of a

, but he already puts himself in the position of January 1, when the transition period ends: "In Spain there is a wrong view of our exit from the European Union. We are perceived as if we were leaving international activity. It is completely the opposite,

. "

British pragmatism weighs heavily on Hugh Elliott's saddlebags, despite being married to a Spanish woman (Toñi) whom he met when he was teaching English at the University of Salamanca, and despite having two Madridista children and born in the capital.

And that's not to mention his eternal debt to Burgos and Lourdes Arnaiz, the woman who gave him shelter when he arrived in Spain in 1984 with the intention of traveling the Camino de Santiago by bicycle, a story that penetrated deep into the networks.

"Our ties are going to continue to be very strong,"

Elliott emphasizes in his splendid Spanish.

"We have the wind, Spain has the sun. Spanish investments and technologies, through Scottish Power, are being fundamental for our great commitment to

wind power

In any case, it is still surprising that at the

final

of Brexit and in the midst of the Covid crisis, London decides to divert attention from climate change.

We asked the ambassador if Boris Johnson doesn't already have "too much on his plate" to try to lead the world on environmental issues.

"There are always many things on the plate.

. The truth is that I see it as the greatest challenge of international diplomacy. I am happy to see how it has become my government's top priority, with COP26 on the horizon. "

Expectations for the Glasgow Summit

Hugh Elliott landed as ambassador in Madrid in August 2019, "in time to see how the COP25 was organized in Madrid and in a matter of weeks after picking up the baton from Chile."

That experience, he assures, has served as a spur to know what will be at stake in Glasgow next year: "

."

We asked him if Boris Johnson's announcement of raising the emissions cut to 68% in 2030 does not also have some challenge to the EU, which has just set it at 55%: "It is not a competition, see who goes further, but to create a global consensus.

. And we welcome the recent announcement of the EU, as we do with the commitments that have been coming from countries like China , Japan or South Korea. We need common goals and that's what we're doing. "

COP26 started with controversy, after the removal of Claire ONeill as president, replaced on the fly by Alok Sharma, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In 2015, France put its then foreign minister Laurent Fabius at the forefront of the summit of change.

This time it will be up to a minister who will have to deal mainly with the impact of Brexit and Covid in such a crucial year for the United Kingdom.

Will it be able to cover all fronts? "

"I am very confident in the role of Alok Sharma, we met during his time at the Foreign Office. He knows very well our network of 270 embassies and consulates around the world. We have all received very clear instructions:

. He knows that he has all that network at his disposal. "

Hugh Elliott began his diplomatic career in 1989 and worked for a time with John Gummer (Lord Deben) when he was Secretary of the Environment with John Major.

Gummer is now at the helm of the Climate Change Committee, which this week has drawn up the "roadmap" for 2030 with the electrification of half the vehicle fleet and the installation of 10,000 turbines in the North Sea ...

"Gummer is a very committed person and is setting the path that the Government should follow. They are not promises on the air, but achievable goals, I said. And the fact that it is a Conservative Government that raises these objectives says everything about the dimension of the problem. Climate change has to be above political ideologies. I realized the day I read one of the first IPCC reports. We have to overcome the old right and left stereotypes on an issue like environmental Protection".

"The pandemic has forced us to rethink many things," concludes Elliott, who believes that the one-year delay to COP26 may ultimately serve to give it the boost it needed.

"The origin of what we have experienced in 2020 is precisely in the bad relationship between humanity and nature. If we want a healthy planet, we must find another way to live with it."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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