ABSTRACT
The UK has, since climate science first arrived on the international agenda, sought a prominent role for itself in the effort to abate climate change. However, its record shows that the UK is a complicated actor that has often acted in contradictory ways, committing to ‘flag ship’, and innovative climate initiatives whilst nearly simultaneously undermining that action through weakening domestic policy, for example. This chapter assesses the validity of the UK’s reputation as being a ‘paradoxical leader’ on climate action. The assessment explores the four types of leadership (exemplary, entrepreneurial, cognitive, structural) that the UK has displayed in bid to have a high-profile international role in the effort to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It is concluded that the UK has clearly developed a leadership role for itself by making world-first (e.g. the legally binding Climate Change Act, the declaration of ‘climate emergency’, and pledging to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050) or world-beating (e.g. installed offshore wind power capacity) efforts. Despite these successes, this chapter additionally finds that, due to the undermining of climate action that became a near-norm in the 2010s, the UK’s ability to maintain its leadership role is under threat. This threat comes at a particularly testing time, with the UK due to host COP26 in 2021 and with doubts being cast on the country’s commitment to, and capacity for, climate action once it leaves the European Union.
