GREEN Party leader Zack Polanski condemned Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today for refusing to put his money where his mouth is on climate justice — while posing as a climate saviour on the world stage.

In the run-up to the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop30) opening on Monday in Belem, a city in Brazil’s Amazon region, the Prime Minister told a summit of Cop30 leaders held there last Friday that he was “doubling down on the fight against climate change.”

Sir Keir defended his government’s clean energy policies, but he later refused to invest in a Brazil-led rainforest fund, even though Britain helped establish it.

In an interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky TV today, Mr Polanski said it was “outrageous” for the Prime Minister to refuse to put money into the fund.

The Green leader said: “The PM often talks about there being no money left, but there’s always money for nuclear weapons.

“Since the pandemic began, billionaire wealth has doubled, but our power and wealth has been stripped away.

“When it comes to climate, we have to look at the cost of inaction.

“We have a prime minister spending billions on carbon capture, an unproven technology, but [he] can’t do the basic investment to protect forests.”

Answering a question from Mr Phillips about whether putting money into the fund would mean tax rises, Mr Polanski said: “We could bring in a wealth tax. One per cent on £10 million or more and a 2 per cent on £1 billion or more could raise between £15bn and £20bn.

“The wider point here is the cost of inaction. If we allow carbon emissions to rise, we know we will face increasing wildfires and floods, which damage people’s lives and also our economy, our infrastructure.”

Independent MP for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn also hit out at the Prime Minister, telling the Morning Star: “It is utterly absurd to go to the Cop claiming to support the environmental agenda and then refuse to support Brazil’s entirely reasonable proposal for a tropical forest fund.

“If Britain is serious about tackling the climate emergency, then it needs to put its money where its mouth is,” the co-founder of “Your Party,” which will hold its inaugural conference later this month, said.

This week’s UN climate conference comes hard on the heels of unprecedented extreme weather events that have caused deaths and widespread damage.

Hurricane Melissa devastated Jamaica last month, while deadly typhoons also hit Vietnam and the Philippines. Earlier in the year, wildfires levelled entire neighbourhoods of  in Los Angeles, South America and Iran experienced major droughts and Pakistan suffered floods that left millions of people homeless.

Last year was the warmest ever recorded and UN scientists recently warned that 2025 is on track to be the second warmest.

The UN Environment Programme says the world is heading towards global warming of 2.8˚C.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney also called for real action to tackle the crisis.

“The next decade will be decisive in tackling the climate emergency and Cop plays a vital role in that,” he said.

“We have no time to waste in protecting the future of our planet.”

But many activists are sceptical that anything meaningful will come out of Cop30, with even the organisation and choice of venue coming under fire.

Campaigner James Melville dismissed the conference as “the global jamboree of hypocrisy,” as hundreds of delegates jetted into the Amazon to be transported along a new eight-mile highway created by felling trees.

Mr Melville said: “We are edging dangerously close to the Earth’s tipping points.”

Power Shift Africa executive director Mohamed Adow said: “It’s time to move from empty promises to real action.”

A statement from the World Wildlife Fund said: “For decades, the ocean absorbed fossil fuel emissions. Now, marine heatwaves are pushing ecosystems to the edge — and we’re all in hot water.

“Cop30 must phase out fossil fuels fast and deploy renewables. Every fraction of a degree matters.”

Making the link between conflicts across the globe and the climate emergency, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement said: “Climate justice dies where oppression and apartheid live.

“As part of the Palestinian Cop30 Coalition, we reiterate our collective call on all climate and justice movements to act, because the struggle for a liveable planet is the struggle against colonialism, apartheid and genocide — from Palestine to the Amazon.”

But many countries have pointed out that the richest countries are failing to keep the promises they made at past climate summits.

Last week, Haitian diplomat Smith Augustin, whose country was pummelled by Hurricane Melissa, appealed to wealthier nations that produce the greatest share of the world’s emissions to support Haiti in preparing for bigger storms. 

Developed countries pledged $300bn (£228bn) at last year’s summit to help poor nations cope with climate shocks, but the money has yet to be distributed.

“The hurricanes and the heavy rain devastated my country,” said Mr Augustin. “Developing countries, and especially the small island states, are the least responsible for climate change.”

Kenyan Vice-President Kithure Kindiki said rescuers in his country were still searching for scores of people missing after a deadly landslide triggered by torrential rain sent muddy water crashing into villages last week.

“A previously once-in-a-century cycle of extreme droughts alternating with devastating floods continues to wipe out lives,” he said. “This has now become common.”

And Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Kalani Kaneko said his Pacific Island country was already living a nightmare.

“All we have to do is look out our front doors to witness the impact of climate change,” he said. “Now the sea rises, the coral dies and the fish stock leaves our shores for cooler waters.”

Others criticised the imbalance between what is expected of developing countries, while developed countries fall short.

African Union Commission chairman Mahmoud Ali Youssouf questioned how developing nations are expected to decarbonise at a time when financial assistance for poor countries is faltering and the United States, the world’s biggest oil producer, is cashing in on heightened demand for hydrocarbons.

“We do not ask for charity, but for climate justice,” he said.

Last Friday, hundreds of indigenous people scaled cargo boats on the River Tapajos in the state of Para, where Belem is located, to denounce separate plans for a new railway that would slice through their lands.

“This is our message to the leaders of the world,” Marilia Sena, a leader of the Tupinamba nation, told reporters. “We want people to see us who have been here for centuries, caring for the forest and the river.”