My letter to MPs on the implications of today’s vote for our international Climate and environmental leadership

Dear Colleague,

I have put some thoughts together on what we have achieved, as a direct consequence of the PM’s leadership, on the environment and climate. As I hope the attached precis demonstrates, we have done some amazing things, and have shown the kind of international leadership in this space that we have rarely shown before.

I want to emphasise that while I like Boris Johnson personally, my loyalty is to the cause I have committed myself to since I was a child. I have worked every day of my life to try to help turn things around for our planet, which all the evidence tells us is under siege and at risk of total degradation.

Second, I owe my job to the current PM of course. But being a Minister is merely a means to an end – the same end I have sought throughout my life as editor of the Ecologist Magazine, as founder of numerous campaigns and foundations, as a backbench MP for nearly a decade fighting mostly on issues relating to the environment – and during which time I turned down invitations to join government because I doubted the sincerity of those offering promotion. I say this in an attempt to demonstrate that I am writing to you in good faith!

The challenges are vast, but I do not believe there is currently any other country doing as much heavy lifting internationally as we are. The PM’s personal leadership on these issues is widely acknowledged by partner countries. We are not simply box-ticking to be seen to be engaging; we are doing everything we possibly can to raise ambition across the world.

And although it is not the reason we are doing so, our overseas Missions are clear that our climate and environment diplomacy have helped us directly in relation to numerous other global challenges – particularly from countries for which climate and environmental damage are existential issues. We hear often about ‘Global Britain’. This is it.

So I hope you don’t mind me asking you respectfully to consider the implications of today’s vote, away from the hyperbole, on what is I believe the single biggest challenge we face today.

Very best wishes,

Zac Goldsmith