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Save the planet? Today's centre-left leaders have more pressing concerns...
The Observer
|November 09, 2025
From the promise of green jobs to the peril of melting glaciers, centre-left leaders once made climate change a core part of their appeal. Now? Not so much.
In the space of a few years, climate policy has faded from view as progressive politics has narrowed to a fight for survival. Keir Starmer went to Brazil for the UN's Cop30 climate talks but has scrapped a pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment and backed airport expansion. Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, who once led a green finance initiative for the UN, has repealed a carbon tax and delayed a mandate for carmakers to hit EV sales targets.
In fiercely contested Dutch elections this autumn, the Green-Labour alliance led by former EU climate commissioner Frans Timmermans described housing as its highest priority. Colombia's first leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, has banned exploration for fossil fuels, but the country has been forced to import gas, and rivals for the presidency are calling for a renewal of the industry.
Among a new generation of more radical leaders, Zohran Mamdani, torchbearer of America’s progressive left, and Zack Polanski, despite leading the Greens in England and Wales, have both put climate on mute.
This story is from the November 09, 2025 edition of The Observer.
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