Extinction Rebellion members speak after the meeting with Michael Gove
Extinction Rebellion says a meeting with Environment Secretary Michael Gove was “very disappointing” because he refused to declare a climate emergency.
The group – who carried out 10 days of climate change protests across London – met Mr Gove on Tuesday for talks.
But speaking afterwards, activists said their demands had not been met.
The group’s youth representative, 14-year-old Felix Ottaway O’Mahony, said: “The rebellion has to continue because… our futures are not safe.”
The Welsh and Scottish governments have both declared a climate emergency, along with dozens of towns and cities, including Manchester and London.
There is no single definition of what that means, but many local areas say they want to be carbon-neutral by 2030, and proponents say the situation amounts to an emergency because the United Nations has warned the world could have just 12 years left to limit a climate change catastrophe.
Extinction Rebellion has three main demands:
- For the government to “tell the truth” about the scale of the environmental crisis the world aces
- For the UK to enact legally binding policies to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025
- For the government to form a Citizens’ Assembly to oversee the changes needed to achieve this
Following its large scale protests, a number of the group’s representatives went to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to meet Mr Gove, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Robert Jenrick and the prime minister’s environmental advisor Lord Randall.
Afterwards, Clare Farrell, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, said there was “unexpected levels of interest” in the idea of citizens’ assemblies from the politicians, which was “quite positive” – but ultimately the meeting “resulted in no concrete outcome”.
Climate change lawyer Farhana Yamin also praised a pledge by Mr Gove to discuss citizens’ assemblies with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and a promise to raise the group’s demands with other members of the cabinet.
But Sam Knights, who works on Extinction Rebellion’s strategy team, said the refusal to declare a climate emergency was “not only a political failure, but a moral failure”.
He added: “It is important to stress how out of step the current political class is with ordinary people.
“We see this in the democratic deficit we have in this country and it is why we have had to be out on the street in force. It is not something any of us have done lightly but feel is a political necessity.
“We plead with our political class to please recognise the enthusiasm and energy ordinary people are bringing to this debate.”
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