Kyte’s role in government aims to help the UK in its efforts to address climate change. Last year, the UK’s Labour Party scored its first general election victory since 2005. “This government came into power in July [2024] on the mandate — in its manifesto — [of] a really assertive commitment around a net-zero energy system by 2030, and also a vision that wanted to put climate and nature as a priority and at the heart of foreign policy.”
We are in a disconcerting, confused world where some of the systems that we have relied upon for the last decades seem to be in question, says Rachel Kyte, the UK’s special representative for climate.
That flux also extends to the energy transition. “We stand in a moment where, while there is more investment flowing into green energy, into a clean economy, an economy that will work better for everybody — we still see parts of the world doubling down on a fossil fuel economy, which is unhelpful to the planet [and] also unhelpful to us as human beings.”
