From Belém’s COP30 opening, Prime Minister Keir Starmer put energy security, bills and jobs at the centre of the UK’s climate pitch, pairing a tougher tone on action with new home‑market deals for ports and storage. The speech, delivered on 6 November, set out a “full‑speed” push on clean power as leaders gathered in the Amazonian host city.

Melissa’s trail of wreckage across Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba made the case for urgency feel immediate. The Category 5 hurricane left at least 50 people dead across the Caribbean, with Jamaica suffering widespread power outages and multi‑billion‑dollar damage. UK officials referenced the tragedy directly in Belém.

That human toll sits against a stark funding reality. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2025 estimates developing countries will need US$310–$365bn a year for adaptation by 2035, yet public flows were just US$26bn in 2023-around 12–14 times too low. Finance is the hinge between pledges and better flood defences, climate‑smart farming and resilient health systems.

On targets, the UK has lodged a 2035 commitment equivalent to an 81% cut in territorial greenhouse gases from 1990-building on the 68% reduction pledged for 2030. The independent Climate Change Committee advised the 81% level; the submission is now in the UN registry. Delivery still hinges on accelerating projects through the late‑decade crunch.

New deals aim to keep that delivery tangible. In Northern Ireland, partners behind the Mona and Morgan Irish Sea projects are committing over £100m to Belfast Harbour, enabling turbine assembly and creating hundreds of local jobs once construction peaks. In England, the Port of East Anglia (Great Yarmouth) is receiving upgrades to pre‑assemble and load out North Sea turbines.

The supply‑chain thread runs to Hull, where Siemens Gamesa’s blade factory will fulfil a contract worth more than £1bn for ScottishPower’s East Anglia TWO offshore wind farm-blades made on the Humber, turbines shipped from East Anglia, clean power landed on the grid.

Storage is the other half of reliability. In Greater Manchester, the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park is moving ahead with what is set to be one of Europe’s largest battery sites-around 680MW of fast‑responding capacity to soak up wind and solar and feed power back at peak. It’s a visible sign of the transition reaching the industrial North West.

Ministers also point to a bigger nuclear build. Sizewell C reached its final investment decision in July, with the state and private investors backing the project expected to support thousands of jobs through construction. Costs and timelines will remain under scrutiny, but the plant is intended to provide low‑carbon baseload into the 2030s.

Jobs data suggest the shift is already material. The Office for National Statistics estimates 690,900 green jobs across the economy in 2023 on an industry basis, with 314,300 roles in the core low‑carbon and renewable energy economy. Government forecasts of 800,000 clean‑energy roles by decade‑end set a clear bar for skills and regional investment.

Costs matter just as much. Government analysis and planning documents state wind and solar are the UK’s lowest‑cost new generation, with storage and flexible capacity balancing quieter days. Independent assessments argue that staying the course on renewables and networks ultimately reduces bill exposure to gas price shocks.

Internationally, the UK and Brazil’s Global Clean Power Alliance-launched at the G20-aims to unlock private capital for clean energy in emerging economies, dovetailing with COP30 efforts to move from promises to pipelines. UNEP’s call to raise adaptation finance sits alongside this push on power system investment.

What to watch next: the COP30 negotiations run through 21 November, with leaders pressed to convert the tripling‑renewables and doubling‑efficiency goals into national plans, alongside credible finance. At home, CfD reforms and grid upgrades will decide how fast projects from Belfast to Great Yarmouth and Manchester connect and scale.