28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-…

Summary

<p>The UK’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has remained tight-lipped on his views on climate...</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/28-quotes-from-next-uk-leader-andy-burnham-on-climate-net-zero-and-fossil-fuels/">28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org">Carbon Brief</a>.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The UK’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has remained <a href="https://www.sustainableviews.com/does-it-matter-if-andy-burnham-does-not-use-the-c-word-9dba3e43/">tight-lipped</a> on his views on climate change during his leadership campaign.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When asked his views on reversing Labour’s manifesto <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/uk-election-2024-what-the-manifestos-say-on-energy-and-climate-change/">pledge</a> to stop new North Sea drilling in June – a move that the <a href="https://www.desmog.com/2026/04/01/the-vested-interests-lobbying-for-north-sea-oil-and-gas-expansion/">oil-and-gas industry</a> and <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-newspapers-have-already-printed-63-editorials-in-2026-backing-north-sea-drilling/">right-wing media</a> have pushed for in recent months – he <a href="http://google.com/url?q=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/06/andy-burnhams-door-knock-to-downing-street&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1783591547585331&usg=AOvVaw3IdIsCRL8VOJYbdsC1pxfX">said</a> he had “something of an open mind” on the issue.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But a trawl of Burnham’s past comments about climate change, net-zero and fossil fuels reveals a different picture.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Just a year ago in June 2025, Burnham, while mayor of Greater Manchester, <a href="https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/massive-attack-manchester">gave his support</a> to the <a href="https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/">fossil fuel treaty</a> – a proposed international pact on phasing out coal, oil and gas – calling it a “lifeline” that “all governments” should join.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a video message endorsing the treaty, he also <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/fossiltreaty.bsky.social/post/3lqwfbnubpk2e">said</a> that “there should be no turning away from net-zero”.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">During his <a href="https://medium.com/@Andy4Leader/labour-must-be-the-party-that-offers-a-different-future-to-the-british-people-one-where-everyone-910833852026">last bid</a> to be Labour leader in 2015, he used similar language, saying: </p>

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Burnham has spoken about the threat of climate change since at least 2008, noting in 2021 that accelerated action could “create thousands of good jobs”, but also warning that net-zero risked becoming the “next Brexit”.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Burnham is yet to appoint his cabinet, but there is much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/05/make-ed-miliband-chancellor-ex-chief-treasury-adviser-nicholas-stern-tells-andy-burnham">speculation</a> that he will select current net-zero secretary Ed Miliband as his chancellor – with their ally Miatta Fahnbulleh having a “<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/andy-burnham-policy-guru-miatta-fahnbulleh-up-for-the-fight/">strong chance</a>” of taking Miliband’s former position.</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Below, Carbon Brief recounts 28 things that Burnham has said about climate change, net-zero, fossil fuels, energy and transport.</p>

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Climate change </h2>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Tackling climate change isn’t just about protecting the planet – it’s a powerful opportunity to build a fairer, greener future for our communities and businesses.”  </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/give-tools-job-andy-burnham-32929566">Calling</a> for local councils to be given more power and money for climate action, 29 November 2025 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“There is little doubt that Greater Manchester’s biodiversity has taken a hit over the years, with habitats being lost, destroyed and becoming less diverse due to the impact of development, climate change, pollution and invasive species…We are committed to delivering a city-region for all residents to enjoy – a fairer, greener and more prosperous place for everyone.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/news/greater-manchester-declares-biodiversity-emergency-and-reiterates-rapid-drive-to-net-zero/">Statement</a> after Greater Manchester declared a “biodiversity emergency”, 25 March 2022</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Over the next decade, if we accelerate our response to the climate crisis, we can create thousands of good jobs, improve homes, overhaul our transport system and make [Manchester] an even better place to live.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.salfordnow.co.uk/2021/10/18/taking-climate-action-greater-manchesters-green-summit-event/">Greater Manchester Green Summit</a>, 18 October 2021</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“The environment has never been higher on the national and international agenda.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.unitedutilities.com/corporate/newsroom/latest-news/mayor-andy-burnham-helps-restore-peat-bogs/">Statement</a> after visiting a peat bog restoration project in England, 9 January 2020</p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img alt="Andy Burnham (left) and others, including members of Massive Attack, endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty in June 2025" class="wp-image-63500" height="682" src="https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/unnamed-1024x682.jpg" width="1024" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Andy Burnham (left) and others, including members of Massive Attack, endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty in June 2025. Credit: Fossil Fuel Treaty</figcaption></figure>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I think climate change [action] will be driven more quickly from the bottom up, if I’m honest. It’s the will of evolution if you wait for the government to act…When governments aren’t listening you get out and get your voice heard…so I think [climate protesters] deserve our encouragement, not our criticism.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking to <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/andy-burnham-backs-climate-change-16326425">Manchester Evening News</a> at a student climate protest in Manchester, 24 May 2019</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Labour leadership candidate <a href="https://medium.com/@Andy4Leader/labour-must-be-the-party-that-offers-a-different-future-to-the-british-people-one-where-everyone-910833852026">speech</a>, 15 July 2015 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Climate change can seem a distant, impersonal threat – in fact the associated costs to health are a very real and present danger…We need well-designed climate change policies that drive health benefits.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/nov/25/bunrham-climate-change-health">Guardian</a> about a study on climate and health, 25 November 2009</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“The <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/the-economics-of-climate-change-the-stern-review/">Stern</a> report on the economics of climate change has changed the debate, in this country and around the world. It made it clear that the people who could suffer most from a failure to tackle climate change, or from a lack of ambition in our approach to it, are those living in the developing countries. They are the most vulnerable…[and] Stern said that the cost of not acting would be large. That is why the government took various measures in the recent spending review to ensure that we are prepared to face the challenges posed by climate change.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking in the <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2008-01-24/debates/08012472000023/ClimateChange(EconomicImpact)">UK parliament</a> on the economic impacts of climate change on his final day as chief secretary to the Treasury, 24 January 2008</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“There should be no turning away from net-zero.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/fossiltreaty.bsky.social/post/3lqwfbnubpk2e">Speaking</a> after giving his support to the <a href="https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/">fossil fuel treaty</a> – a proposed global pact to introduce laws to phase out coal, oil and gas – on behalf of Manchester, 6 June 2025 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“An opportunity is opening up for Britain as other countries move away from net-zero. We should seize that…We can make Britain a green leader. This is not the time to tiptoe, it is the time to commit to this path.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking at <a href="https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4412906/andy-burnham-away-net-zero">Innovation Zero World Congress</a> in London, 29 April 2025 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“[We] need a government that fully buys into the 2038 vision because the UK will not get to 2050 unless places like Greater Manchester are freed up to go faster – and we’re ready to go faster.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/need-u-turn-energy-policy-25296050">Speaking</a> about Greater Manchester’s aim to reach net-zero by 2038, 19 October 2022 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“In Greater Manchester we have plans to build 30,000 net-zero social rented homes because we recognise that a successful city region needs good quality, affordable accommodation for everyone.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/safer-and-more-sustainable-communities/devolution-hub/devolution-council-resources-3">Speech</a> on the future of cities, 24 June 2022  </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“By building a broad consensus behind the drive to net-zero, we can ensure that the transition is a fair one that delivers social justice as well as climate justice. This is an opportunity for all of us to show how cutting carbon emissions in our cities can make a real difference to our communities – away from the abstractions and rooted in the real world.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://gmbusinessboard.com/news/global-city-leaders-at-cop26-champion-green-revolutions-and-call-on-national-governments-for-support">Panel discussion</a> in Glasgow during the <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop26-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-glasgow/">COP26</a> climate summit, 12 November 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“To the extent that people have picked up anything from COP26, it’s a sense that the drive to net-zero will mean cost and inconvenience for ordinary people and offsetting for the wealthy and entitled. All of a sudden, you can feel how net-zero could become the new Brexit –  a debate that gets very divided on class grounds…This has got to be a wake-up call. We cannot let this happen. We need to act now to build a broad social consensus behind the drive to net-zero. How to do that? It starts with taking control of the climate narrative from those steering it in the wrong direction and turning it around…We must show how, if done in the right way, the drive to net-zero is actually an opportunity to reduce the cost of living; to make people’s lives better and society fairer.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Writing for the <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/cop26-billionaires-insulate-britain-b964373.html">London Standard</a>, 5 November 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“The drive to net-zero is a chance to re-industrialise the north of England, this time in a clean way. Create really good jobs, future-facing jobs for people, better public transport, improve people’s homes…If we go quickly towards net-zero, it’s the quickest way to level up the country.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2021-11-01/mayor-andy-burnham-climate-emergency-is-a-chance-to-re-industrialise-the-north">ITV</a> interview at COP26, 1 November 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“If we really embrace the drive to net-zero, that is the route to level up the country…But it needs substantial investment, upfront, now, of the kind that Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor [and chancellor under Keir Starmer’s government], has been talking about. We need long-term predictable funding.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Interview with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDQANdZWWnY">GB News</a> at COP26, 1 November 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I would have preferred to hear slightly less about carbonated wine and much more about a decarbonised economy.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/devolution-and-economic-growth/budget-fell-short-on-skills-and-net-zero-say-northern-mayors-28-10-2021/">Referencing</a> a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59065778">UK budget</a>, which included tax cuts for sparkling wine and other drinks, 28 October 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Decarbonising is not just about lowering costs on to people. It’s the route to get better, cheaper public transport. It’s the route to getting homes that are cheap to run. It’s actually the way we can create thousands of good jobs for the people who live in Greater Manchester. This is the route to levelling up the country by going further and faster on decarbonisation.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking to <a href="https://confidentials.com/manchester/andy-burnham-on-manchesters-climate-goals-economic-opportunity">Manchester Confidential</a>, 20 October 2021 </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“[I am] asking people to stop seeing the environmental agenda as a cost and a burden agenda. I think this is a barrier that we’ve got to get over. Already in the media interviews I’ve done today, people are saying ‘can you afford it?’, ‘can it be achievable when times are tough?’. </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“My answer to that is, at some point in the 21st century, all homes will be zero-carbon. At some point in this century, all buildings of any kind will be zero-carbon…All cars will be zero-carbon, all public transport will be zero-carbon…The question is: when? And surely the places that embrace those things first are putting themselves in a position of economic strength when it comes to facing up to the future. Rather than seeing the whole agenda as a burden, we’ve got to see it for the benefits that it can bring. </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“There may be a greater upfront cost in a zero-carbon home, but let’s stop thinking, as we tend to do in Britain, of the short-term, the short-termist approach to life. Surely let’s start talking to the public about the lifetime cost.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AQ7yZ9ORBE">Greater Manchester Green Summit</a>, 21 March 2018 </p>

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fossil fuels</h2>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I’ve got something of an open mind, you know. I don’t have a sort of fixed position.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Speaking on the issue of new North Sea oil and gas in a <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/06/andy-burnhams-door-knock-to-downing-street">New Statesman</a> interview, 3 June 2026</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“We would fight this in GM [Greater Manchester]…Communities across the north would face all the danger and disruption while big oil and gas walk away with all the profits.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In response to Reform’s call for fracking, on <a href="https://x.com/andyburnham/status/1959911288743547324?s=20">X</a>, 25 August 2025</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I am proud to endorse the fossil-fuel treaty proposal today on behalf of Greater Manchester. It’s not just a plan – it’s a lifeline. It’s a call to end coal, oil and gas, hold polluters accountable…I urge all governments, nationals and subnationals to join this fight.” </p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/massive-attack-manchester">Statement</a> upon endorsing the fossil-fuel treaty, 5 June 2025</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Fracking is the past, it is not the future.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/20/enough-biggest-ever-climate-protest-uk">Speech</a> at London climate protest, 20 September 2019</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I have called for a moratorium on fracking. Far too many potential risks and unanswered questions.”</p>

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Energy and transport </h2>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“What I would do, if successful, is lay out a plan for more public control over water, energy, transport, so that over the period we can get those bills down, fares down, and give people and give businesses breathing space.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/burnham-promises-to-ease-cost-of-living-pressures-if-he-becomes-prime-minister">LBC interview</a>, 2 July 2026</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“I am all in favour of tough decisions at a national level. I don’t believe there should be a third runway at Heathrow, for instance. But I think those are decisions for national government.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/13/andy-burham-reveals-2038-carbon-target-for-greater-manchester-airport-new-roads-mayor">Guardian</a> interview, 13 June 2019</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“There is a debate to be had about aviation, isn’t there? There are changing public attitudes about aviation. Rather than just saying no to people flying, don’t we need to accelerate research into low and zero-carbon forms of aviation?”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph" style="font-size: 26px;">“Today, I stand alongside the mayors of some of the greatest cities in the world. I’m committed to a cleaner, greener and healthier future for Greater Manchester. Around a third of greenhouse gas emissions in our city-region come from transport.”</p>

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When <a href="https://airqualitynews.com/local-government/city-leaders-join-zero-emission-vehicle-pledge/">signing</a> the <a href="https://www.c40.org/other/fossil-fuel-free-streets-declaration">C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration</a>, which includes support for zero-emissions vehicles and walking and cycling, on behalf of Manchester, 14 September 2018</p>

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<p>The post <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/28-quotes-from-next-uk-leader-andy-burnham-on-climate-net-zero-and-fossil-fuels/">28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org">Carbon Brief</a>.</p>

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28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels

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