First Covid, now global warming: Sir Patrick Vallance calls for climate change 'road maps'
Chief Scientific Adviser Sir has called on the government to implement 'road maps' to tackle climate change. Sir Patrick, who led the UK's response to , addressed delegates due to attend the Cop26 climate summit and said that the time for vague promises on climate change are over. The Government's chief scientific adviser is now leading a new taskforce that will seek to apply the success of the UK's vaccine roll-out to help beat cancer and . He is also the Chief Scientific Advisor for Cop26, after being invited by the summit's president Alok Sharma. Sir Patrick became a regular fixture on our screens during the coronavirus pandemic, regularly appearing alongside Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty at Downing Street briefings with the Prime Minister. He became the face of the battle against the virus, advising the government together with Prof Whitty, with the pair dubbed 'glum and glummer' for their sombre warnings. Sir Patrick, who pushed for lockdown long before the government enacted it, is now set to dominate our screens for a while longer with his new green role. Speaking on Sky News, he said Reacting, Sir Patrick said it was 'easy to slip' with plans to tackle climate change and urged world leaders to set out clear, 'practical' plans to address the crisis. He added: 'Every government needs to develop an evidence-based roadmap setting out the technologies they require. 'That's a really important practical step that governments need to take and each of us needs to hold ourselves to account for this because monitoring progress against those roadmaps is going to be crucial. 'It's easy to slip and it's easy to assume that something can happen later to rectify this. 'The message is 'no, it has to happen now, the roadmap needs to be implemented now' and we need to know when we're off course and correct that as soon as possible.' Sir Patrick called for the road maps to be published before Cop26, which takes place in Glasgow in November. Howard Cox, founder of the Fair Fuel campaign, accused Sir Patrick of scaring people. 'At the moment we are relying on alarmism, and here it goes again from Sir Patrick Vallance, yet another one who is scaring people rather than suggesting clear solutions to improve the air we breathe,' he said. 'From our point of view, aligned with many backbench MPs in Parliament and the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Fuel) we are calling for a true cost benefit analysis of these policies. 'How will they affect the economy, how will they affect grassroots taxpayers, low income families and small businesses? 'We need that cost benefit analysis. There hasn't been, they have even hidden statistics and spreadsheets regarding the true cost of net zero and what we are looking for is a true honesty - also, has to involve stakeholders, not just Whitehall figures.' Writing for The Times today, Sir Patrick and Professor Stephen Belcher, chief scientist at the Met Office, say recent floods in London and Germany and wildfires in Greece and Turkey 'provide a sad taste of the future'. They both called on all nations to submit detailed new and ambitious climate targets before Cop26. The new group led by Sir Patrick chaired by the Prime Minister will be asked to review which prospective technologies the nation focuses on. The Prime Minister will ask the whole of government to work with Sir Patrick to develop on the UK's successful approach to coronavirus vaccines and apply it to other priorities. Downing Street said these will include developing technology to combat the climate crisis by reaching net zero and to cure, rather than just treat, cancer. Alongside his current roles that have seen him play a leading role in the pandemic response, Sir Patrick will also become the national technology adviser. Mr Johnson is also tasking Sir Patrick with running a new Office for Science and Technology Strategy to drive Whitehall's science strategy. Mr Johnson said: 'From discovery to delivery, our vaccination programme has proven what the UK can achieve at scale and at speed. 'With the right direction, pace and backing, we can breathe life into many more scientific and technological breakthroughs that transform the lives of people across the UK and the world. 'That's why I'm establishing a new ministerial council and office at the centre of government, so we can realise the limitless possibilities that research and technology has to offer and cement the UK's place as a global science superpower.' Sir Patrick said: 'The new Office for Science and Technology Strategy will put science and technology right at the heart of policy-making and strengthen the way we work across government to reinforce the position of the UK as a science superpower. 'I look forward to working with the National Science and Technology Council to help identify cutting-edge research and technologies that will deliver strategic advantage for the UK.' Sir Patrick is the richest mandarin in Whitehall, worth 10million - and has led the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Until March 2021 he held a deferred bonus of 43,111 shares in GlaxoSmithKline, worth 600,000 from his time as president of the multinational drug company. In a rare interview in 2015 he shot down critics who suggested he took the corporate role for the money after an academic early career at University College London. He insisted to Radio 4's The Life Scientific: 'There'll be people that carp and say you've gone to the dark side, you've done it for money, whatever. 'There's nothing you can do about that. That's why the personal reputation bit you need to be comfortable with, before you make a decision like that.' Currently he and his family live in a substantial semi-detached Victorian house worth 1.8million, which they bought in 2018 with cash. They had to complete extensive renovations after it had been left completely gutted by a fire before they were involved in the property. Sir Patrick was born in Essex in 1960 and educated at Truro school in Cornwall, which costs nearly 30,000 to board now. He had considered being a chef but then began a life in science and medicine at university before going to GSK. It would be the role that catapulted him to the prominence he holds today, so well-known he has own entry in Who's Who, which lists his hobbies as 'mushrooming, cooking, gardening' and 'playing tennis badly'. Just 12 days into the job he was rubbing shoulders with royalty, pictured with Prince Andrew at an event. After six years at GSK his base salary as Executive Director was 780,000 a year. When he left he cashed in 5 million worth of shares he got from them from his time working there until March 2018. And in 2017 when he took his current role as Government Chief Scientific Adviser Nature, the international weekly science journal, said his salary was up to 180,000 a year more than the Prime Minister. Ministers pledged help for hard-pressed families to go green yesterday amid questions over the cost to taxpayers of the Prime Minister's climate change plans. The Prime Minister wants a 'net zero' Britain by 2050 that includes banning gas boilers in homes and sales of new petrol and diesel cars. Mr Johnson yesterday said a damning UN report highlighting the scale of global climate change was a 'wake-up call' for the world and demanded an end to the use of coal for power. But the PM, who hosts the Cop26 meeting of world leaders to discuss climate action in Scotland in the autumn, is facing pushback from within the Conservatives . Kent MP Craig Mackinlay has launched a group to to push back at plans he argues could be could 'completely kill us off politically'. He and others argue they will hit poorer voters in former 'Red Wall' areas who voted Conservative for the first time in 2019. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng today said ministers 'want to try and help people make that transition' when asked about the expense to consumers of scrapping gas boilers.