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Douglas Alexander's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Douglas Alexander

• 14 May 2026: Parliamentary Speech

  We will continue working with the Scottish Government on legislation, providing a legislative framework to support the hosting of future major sporting events across the UK, so we can see more big events like the Euros and Commonwealth games in Scotland in the future. Following the establishment of the Aberdeen-based GB Energy announced in the last King’s Speech, the Government will go further by bringing in new legislation which will lower bills, secure our energy systems and set out a clear path to net zero.

  Full debate: Government’s Legislative Programme: Scotland

• 15 Apr 2026: Parliamentary Speech

  This is an incredibly difficult time for the Alexander Dennis workers and their families, many of whom face an uncertain future through no fault of their own. It is, alas, yet another example of failure on the part of the Scottish Government, who sent the majority of a £45 million funding pot for zero emission buses to China, blocking comparative bids to build and invest in Falkirk. While Labour mayors have shown what is possible across the rest of the UK, stepping forward with bus orders and backing British manufacturing when it mattered, that is an example not so much of being “stronger for Scotland”, as of being stronger for China.

  Full debate: Economic Growth

• 15 Apr 2026: Parliamentary Speech

  I see that the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey), is on the Front Bench with me. I will write to the hon. Lady on exactly that matter.

  Full debate: Energy Prices

• 14 Jan 2026: Parliamentary Speech

  I was last in touch with the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary about an hour ago. I talked to him after the Cabinet, and I discussed these issues with him in the Cabinet. It is a very serious question, and it deserves a serious answer. The choice is not whether to build, but what to build, and our answer is clean home-grown power that the United Kingdom controls. Our answer is that we should build new renewables, because they are cheaper to build and to operate than gas.

  Full debate: Economic Growth

• 26 Nov 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  This at least seems to be an occasion for which there is genuine cross-party consensus. Not only have we urged a different approach from the Scottish Government—and I do so again—but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has already asked Great British Energy Nuclear to begin assessing Scotland’s capability for new build nuclear sites.

  Full debate: New Nuclear Sites

  I find myself in agreement with my hon. Friend. This is not just an anti-jobs measure by the Scottish Government; I would argue that it is an anti-science measure. Let us remember that nuclear power is carbon free. Given the climate change challenge we face, why would we want to resist a technology that can provide reliable, safe and cheap carbon-free energy for decades to come?

  Full debate: New Nuclear Sites

• 15 Jul 2025: Tweet

  Great to co-chair the UK-Viet Nam JETCO & Trade Committee with Vice Minister Nguyen Hoang Long. We celebrated our countries' bilateral trade, which reached £8.1bn in 2024 and discussed deepening ties in sectors like finance, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. https://x.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1945021338277544262/photo/1 [Source]

• 30 Jun 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  I am pleased to announce that the three pillars under the UK-Taiwan enhanced trade partnership, on investment, digital trade, and energy and net zero, were signed on 30 June. The signing took place between the UK representative at the British Office Taipei, Ruth Bradley-Jones, and the Taipei representative to the UK, Vincent Chin-Hsiang Yao. I witnessed this signing alongside Executive Yuan Minister without Portfolio Yang Jen-ni during my trip to Taipei where I also co-chaired the 27th UK-Taiwan trade talks.

  The digital trade, investment and energy and net zero pillars are available on www.gov.uk.

  Full debate: UK-Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership

• 18 Feb 2025: Tweet

  Great to drop in to the Port Seton Centre to meet the 360 Centre team. Their vision is for a Climate Change Research, Education & Training Centre within a space for culture & the arts, public sculpture & a local green ferry service – based at the former Cockenzie Power Station. https://x.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1891812432986718370/photo/1 [Source]

• 08 Jan 2025: Tweet

  Good to meet with the Ambassador of Vietnam to the UK, Do Minh Hung, today. We talked through the opportunities for UK-Vietnam trade this year, including utilisation of CPTPP and the UK-Vietnam FTA, and collaboration in renewable energy, financial services and digitalisation https://x.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1876984587273769080/photo/1 [Source]

• 3 Dec 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I am not sure that I am in agreement, notwithstanding the high degree of consensus in the House, with the hon. Lady’s opposition to solar farms. We believe that the essential transition to a net zero economy requires not only onshore wind but, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has made clear, offshore wind, on which the United Kingdom is rightly a leader, as well as onshore solar. We are simply in disagreement if the hon. Lady’s argument is that we should oppose solar farm development. That being said, she is entirely right to recognise that the net zero transition should not be at the cost of any latitude on the clear provisions of the Modern Slavery Act. It is mandatory rather than voluntary. That legislation was introduced by our predecessors, and we are considering it carefully in the light of change in other jurisdictions, but it none the less places clear obligations on those seeking to import to the United Kingdom.

  Full debate: UK Supply Chains: Uyghur Forced Labour

• 16 Nov 2024: Tweet

  Busy agenda in Baku at @COP29_AZ. Good to meet with @WTO Director @NOIweala & British firms to discuss the UK’s continued support for the multilateral trading system and how trade can contribute to achieving good jobs & shared climate objectives. https://x.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1857708794362605936/video/1 [Source]

• 15 Nov 2024: Tweet

  Busy day in Baku at ⁦⁦⁦⁦⁦@COP29_AZ⁩. Good to meet with @WTO Director ⁦@NOIweala⁩ & British businesses to discuss the UK’s continued support for the multilateral trading system and how trade can contribute to achieving good jobs & shared climate objectives. https://x.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1857498031123263943/photo/1 [Source]

• 14 Nov 2024: Tweet

  Today, I’m in Baku, Azerbaijan to attend COP29 and highlight the importance of trade policy as a catalyst for global climate action and to support countries in harnessing the economic opportunities of the green transition. https://twitter.com/mikayiljabbarov/status/1857054644897194183 [Source]

• 24 Jun 2024: Tweet

  Here in East Lothian we’re well placed to benefit from the Net Zero transition if we elect a Government that can end the chaos, turn the page and begin the process of rebuilding our economy. It’s time for change. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1805198203672727635/video/1 [Source]

• 08 May 2024: Tweet

  Climate investment globally overtook fossil fuel investment 2 years ago. My meetings here - Stanford & Berkeley have won more Nobel prizes than France - confirm in Scotland we’re part of a global race to align energy security, industrial policy, affordability & sustainability. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1788261483236958499/photo/1 [Source]

• 08 May 2024: Tweet

  In the last two weeks I’ve visited two wind farms in East Lothian but we’re still only at the start of the Net Zero transition: If we get this transition right it can mean good jobs & lower bills so this week I’m in San Francisco meeting with climate investors & entrepreneurs. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1788238293219610935/photo/1 [Source]

• 26 Apr 2024: Tweet

  On this quiet week in Scottish politics (!) it was great to welcome ⁦@AnasSarwar⁩ to East Lothian this morning to meet with Community Windpower at their BeGreen Energy Advice Centre in Dunbar High Street. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1783795707154972904/photo/1 [Source]

• 20 Jan 2024: Tweet

  (6/8) And we met with atmospheric scientists, economists, politicians, negotiators, farmers, teachers, and activists developing and implementing policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change while advancing Nepal’s economic and social development. [Source]

• 20 Jan 2024: Tweet

  (5/8) In Nepal, the students got to assess the profoundly damaging impact of climate change on the Himalayas - the water towers of Asia - that critically help provide fresh water to more than a billion people on the plains below. [Source]

• 20 Jan 2024: Tweet

  (3/8) Yet today, as a world, we’re badly off track. The 2023 SDG Report shows that on key goals like poverty and hunger progress has stalled. On Net Zero the latest evidence is that last year was, in fact, the hottest year on record. [Source]

• 20 Jan 2024: Tweet

  (1/8) In the first weeks of this year I’ve been teaching an undergraduate course for New York University examining how, in the coming years, the world can get back on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and deliver a Net Zero world by 2050. [Source]

• 02 Nov 2023: Tweet

  Relieved to have weathered the storm and delighted be speaking today on “Why does climate leadership matter?” at the remarkable @EdenProject with a broad range of British businesses, campaigners & NGOs. #Anthropy23 https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1720095407290888618/photo/1 [Source]

• 15 Sep 2023: Tweet

  Great to join ⁦@norriehamp⁩ & ⁦@_MWhitfield⁩ Martin at the BeGreen Energy Advice Centre on Dunbar High Street this morning to discuss the East Lothian Energy Fund that’s been developed to help local people through the continuing cost of living crisis. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1702656607962763755/photo/1 [Source]

• 30 Jul 2023: Tweet

  This week the World Meteorological Organization & the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service released data that confirmed that July 2023 is set to be the hottest month ever recorded in human history. This programme asks can we meet the net zero challenge?????https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001p20w [Source]

• 17 Jun 2023: Tweet

  “Nine months since the law was passed in Congress the private sector has mobilised well beyond our initial expectations to generate clean energy, build battery factories & develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” It’s time for change. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/opinion/climate-clean-energy-investment.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare [Source]

• 10 May 2023: Tweet

  If the Net Zero transition isn’t just it won’t happen at home or abroad so it needs public action & huge levels of private capital. Getting this right will bring huge economic gains - new industries & new jobs - for those countries that rise to the challenge with smart policies. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1656392126748413961/photo/1 [Source]

• 10 May 2023: Tweet

  Listening to investors here in San Francisco it’s clear how closely the US Govt is now aligning climate security, national security & industrial policy. In response the EU is bringing forward the Net Zero Industry Act. Yet the U.K. Govt seems in denial about this new global race. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1656362158089728000/photo/1 [Source]

• 10 May 2023: Tweet

  The range of innovative climate investment here in the US on technologies like CCS, Hydrogen, Small Modular Reactors, Sustainable Aviation Fuel & EV Batteries is inspiring. The issue we face is not that today’s problems are too large but that often today’s politics is too small. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1656253714238423041/photo/1 [Source]

• 09 May 2023: Tweet

  Here in the US it’s hard to overstate the economic impact of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Hydrogen, EV battery & solar panel entrepreneurs all explain it’s THE catalytic force driving Net Zero transition & delivering good jobs. There are many lessons for the U.K. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1656082545438588928/photo/1 [Source]

• 09 May 2023: Tweet

  Renewable energy has a key role to play in East Lothian’s future & transitioning to the Net Zero economy. This week my work brings me to San Francisco where I’m meeting climate investors & entrepreneurs & learning about the impact of US industrial policy in delivering good jobs. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1655938657147322368/photo/1 [Source]

• 21 Mar 2023: Tweet

  Reading the new IPCC Report last night, it’s stark just how much more policy action & international cooperation is needed if globally we’re to meet the challenge of climate change. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1638081339005063171/photo/1 [Source]

• 28 Feb 2023: Tweet

  A really fascinating new @BBCRadio4 programme presented by @jm_stout offering perspectives from Shetland on oil, climate change & what’s needed for a just transition. Worth a listen. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jklx [Source]

• 29 Jun 2022: Tweet

  7 months after @COP26 and 4 months after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine climate security & national security objectives in Europe are aligning around accelerating the Net Zero transition, but it requires leadership nationally & internationally. https://twitter.com/BVCA/status/1542059876645494786 [Source]

• 08 Nov 2021: Tweet

  New research by Carbon Brief shows that Glasgow’s @COP26 is already the largest ever, with almost 40,000 delegates. Let’s hope that in its final week it can prove to be the most impactful in reducing climate change. https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1457637846974615557/photo/1 [Source]

• 01 Nov 2021: Tweet

  Here’s my piece for this morning’s @TheNationalNews on what’s at stake as world leaders start negotiating at Glasgow’s @COP26 climate summit. https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/2021/10/31/glasgow-climate-summit-is-last-chance-to-listen-to-mother-nature/ via @TheNationalNews [Source]

• 28 Oct 2021: Tweet

  @JohnKerry in his final public speech before @COP26 tells the audience: “The time for debating climate change is over. The time for action is overdue”. Glasgow’s summit is “a decisive moment in a decisive decade”. https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/events/john-kerry/ [Source]

• 21 Oct 2021: Tweet

  Just discussed the new @IPCC_CH document leak on @BBCScotlandNews and explained how it confirms how fraught are the international politics of climate change ahead of Glasgow’s @COP26 #TheNine https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58982445 [Source]

• 16 Oct 2021: Tweet

  Just spoke on @BBCr4today about my new documentary about @COP26 in which I hear from @ClimateEnvoy John Kerry about the significance of & prospects for Glasgow’s Climate Summit. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010pv9 [Source]

• 09 Sep 2021: Tweet

  It’s now just 52 days until world leaders gather in Glasgow for @COP26. To unlock the negotiations we need the world’s richest nations to make good their pledge - made in Paris - to provide $100bn climate finance to the world’s poorest nations. It needs leadership, not excuses. https://twitter.com/GlobeOpinion/status/1435717297365204992 [Source]

• 16 May 2021: Tweet

  US Climate Envoy @JohnKerry describes how & why Pope Francis aims to join global leaders at @COP26 in Glasgow this November. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1393968233766694915 [Source]

• 20 Apr 2021: Tweet

  Ahead of @COP26 in Glasgow in November & Biden’s “Leaders Summit” later this week this speech by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken is a very positive sign of America’s renewed ambition to tackle Climate Change. https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-remarks-to-the-chesapeake-bay-foundation-tackling-the-crisis-and-seizing-the-opportunity-americas-global-climate-leadership/ [Source]

• 19 Apr 2021: Tweet

  Here’s my piece for this morning’s @Daily_Record on why the ‘Road to Glasgow’ starts this week in Washington DC with President Biden’s “Leader’s Summit” on climate change. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/road-planet-saving-green-deal-23937392?utm_campaign=sharebar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com [Source]

• 11 Mar 2021: Tweet

  Here @ClimateEnvoy Kerry explains why #COP26 this November in Glasgow is going to be such a pivotal moment in the global climate effort. #RoadToGlasgow https://twitter.com/USAinUK/status/1370027185143050240/video/1 [Source]

• 19 Feb 2021: Tweet

  There always was an America beyond the horrors of the Trump Presidency. Today that better America rejoined the Paris Agreement and so strengthened the possibility of @COP26 in Glasgow delivering a world changing, world saving deal. ???? ????????????????????????????????https://ukcop26.org/ [Source]

• 04 Feb 2021: Tweet

  This striking image today - from the nation that helped invent the industrial revolution with coal, steam and iron and in November will welcome @COP26 - should remind us all of the need to ensure a just transition to the Net Zero Economy. https://twitter.com/BBCScotlandNews/status/1357380524218736651 [Source]

• 01 Feb 2021: Tweet

  This year the UK will host two critical summits, the G7 & the UN Climate Change Conference. The #CrackTheCrises coalition, launched today, is asking the UK government to play a leading role to help tackle Covid, injustice & climate change. https://twitter.com/38_degrees/status/1356303650193354756/video/1 [Source]

• 01 Feb 2021: Tweet

  Here’s the piece I’ve written with Andrew Mitchell to help launch #CrackTheCrises. 30+ organisations, representing over 10 million people, are coming together today to tackle the biggest challenges of our time; Covid, injustice and climate change. https://labourlist.org/2021/02/covid-injustice-climate-change-boris-johnson-must-do-more-to-crack-the-crises/ [Source]

• 20 Jan 2021: Tweet

  Glasgow helped birth the industrial revolution, and COP 26 in November can help birth the low carbon revolution. A warm welcome awaits! https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/1352034269544243200 [Source]

• 12 Jun 2020: Tweet

  What lessons can we draw from the pandemic in meeting the challenge of climate change? Here’s my new @policyatkings article written with @Thieristan. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/flattening-the-carbon-curve-lessons-from-a-pandemic-for-the-other-existential-crisis [Source]

• 02 Apr 2020: Tweet

  As COP 26 is understandably postponed until next year, Bob Carr sets out the scale of the climate challenge we’ll face in the years ahead. https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/beneath-the-virus-lurks-a-bigger-emergency-but-the-world-is-distracted-from-the-climate-threat-20200328-p54et4.html [Source]

• 06 Sep 2019: Tweet

  Here at ⁦@RUSI_org⁩ I just asked US Secretary of Defense, @EsperDoD whether he regards climate change as a threat to US national security: He responded that climate change is “in the nature of things....” https://twitter.com/D_G_Alexander/status/1169907051377524736/photo/1 [Source]

• 04 Dec 2013: Vote

  Recall of Elected Representatives — Schedule 4 — Application and modification of emissions limit duty - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: No

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 10 — Direction to offer contract - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 1 — Decarbonisation - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 03 Jun 2013: Vote

  Communities and Local Government — Clause 42 — Duty not to exceed annual carbon dioxide emissions limit - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 30 Jan 2013: Parliamentary Speech

  Whether in economics, trade, defence, foreign policy or the global challenges around development and climate change, Britain’s interests are strengthened by being part of the EU. It gives us a weight collectively that on our own we would lack. It is not a matter of outdated sentiment or even of party ideology; it is a matter of simple arithmetic. In an age when countries are the size of continents, our membership gives us access to, and influence over, the world’s biggest trading bloc, prising open new frontiers that would otherwise be unreachable by the UK. In an age of common threats that permeate national borders, membership gives us the power of collective action and pooled resources.

  Full debate: Europe

• 19 Dec 2012: Vote

  Charities Act 2011 (Amendment) — Energy Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 12 Jul 2012: Parliamentary Speech

  The Opposition have no objection to a proper, thorough and factual analysis of what the EU does and how it affects us in the United Kingdom, and we welcome the involvement of a wide range of external stakeholders in the exercise announced today. We are also clear, however, that we support a future for Britain within the EU. To cut ourselves off from a market of 500 million customers would imply not just that we had lost faith in Europe, but that we had lost faith in the ability of British companies to out-compete their European rivals. In an era of billion-person countries and trillion-pound economies, we need to find ways to amplify Britain’s voice on the world stage. Where we have shared goals—from climate change negotiations to tackling cross-border crime and human trafficking—working together in Europe makes global agreements more likely.

  Full debate: Balance of Competences

• 15 May 2012: Parliamentary Speech

  The threats that we in the United Kingdom face today transcend borders—threats to do with global security, climate change, terrorism, and food and water supplies—and they all require international co-operation to an extent that was not previously required. Later this week, as leaders of the G8 meet at Camp David, they will be contemplating the need for international consensus in the face of many of these global challenges. Co-operation requires leadership, and yet we heard little from the Foreign Secretary about what this Government hope to achieve and plan to deliver as a result of the G8 summit that is only a few days away, and even less about what their agenda will be when they take the leadership of that grouping in 2013.

  Full debate: Foreign Affairs and International Development

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — Clause 42 — Domestic energy efficient regulations - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — New Clause 1 — Energy efficiency aim - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 1 Jul 2010: Parliamentary Speech

  The last decade of delivery in the fight against global poverty has been regarded by some as a golden age, from the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief through to Make Poverty History and Gleneagles. But we now face far more turbulent and testing times, and new challenges confront us. The world has been engulfed as never expected by the greatest financial and economic crisis for generations, thrusting millions of our fellow citizens back into poverty and creating pressure for donor Governments across Europe and the world to turn inwards and slash aid funding. At the same time, the urgency of tackling the climate crisis has become ever more evident, and yet the capacity of the international community to take the necessary action still remains elusive.

  Full debate: Global Poverty

  There is the question of where and how our aid money is allocated across Government, and on what it is spent. We believe that the majority of our overseas development assistance should naturally be programmed and allocated by the Department for International Development. We were joined in that view by the Secretary of State’s now Cabinet colleague the Scottish Secretary, who warned during the recent general election campaign of the danger that Conservative plans could mean large sums ending up being diverted from the aid budget—for example, to count as climate finance in due course.

  However, I am glad to say that it appears that the differences between the Conservatives and the Liberals have been resolved—in the same way that a python resolves its differences with a mouse. In the coalition programme for government, we see no mention of additionality in climate finance, despite the fact that climate finance is such a crucial issue, as has been recognised across the House today. In contrast, we made it clear in government that from 2013 we would ensure that additional sources of climate finance would be provided, with no more than 10% of our aid spending being allocated to that purpose. The Liberal Democrats had also called for additional climate finance, but alas, like their promises on VAT, this now appears to have been another promise that has been conveniently forgotten. Will the Minister of State therefore tell us whether the Government intend to make any form of additional climate finance available, from what point, and from what sources? If he answers that none will be provided, perhaps he can tell us what he feels the prospects are for the climate negotiations in Cancun later this year, in the absence, as yet, of post-2013 commitments from the Government.

  I therefore ask the Secretary of State: what is the clear forward agenda, beyond the re-packaging of existing policies? With just weeks to go, where are the Government’s clear and concrete proposals and red lines for the UN millennium development goals summit in September? Where is the detailed vision about how we tackle climate change and promote development, and how those can be effectively aligned? Indeed, where are the serious commitments on issues such as climate finance?

  Full debate: Global Poverty

• 19 Apr 2010: Tweet

  @krishgm - he spent more time praising Thatcher than talking about climate change at our last debate-sounds like wrong priorities to me [Source]

• 20 Jan 2010: Parliamentary Speech

  I last met my Swedish counterpart, Gunilla Carlsson, on 14 December at a ministerial meeting at the Copenhagen climate change summit, where we discussed co-operation between the European Union and developing countries in support of an agreement that meets the needs of the poor and most vulnerable people.

  Full debate: Ministerial Meeting (Sweden)