“So… what do you do?”

Very often when I tell people about my job, their reaction is puzzlement.

‘So you work on climate change stuff in Australia?’

‘Yep.’ (and energy policy, and a few other things)

‘But you work for the UK government?’

‘Yep.’

‘So… why does the UK employ someone in Australia to work on climate change?’

When I answer, I like to talk about why climate change matters – it’s one of the biggest challenges to our future wellbeing and prosperity. It affects everyone, and the solution to climate change will involve everyone: scientists, policymakers, businesses, communities. How we deal with climate change will affect Australia, will affect the UK, and indeed the whole world.

And then I talk about how the UK sees climate change. It’s a positive story. The UK has world-leading domestic laws in place which set national ‘carbon budgets’, which are essentially legally-binding limits on national emissions. These carbon budgets are set a long way in advance, which helps with policy planning and investment certainty. The latest carbon budget extends out to 2027, and new ones are set every few years. The UK will meet these carbon budgets through multiple policies – everything from participating in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme to providing incentives to help homes and businesses use energy more efficiently. There is also cross-party political support for climate change. In February this year the leaders of three political parties declared a consensus position on climate change. This declaration agreed on some core principles, including pursuing an ambitious international agreement, keeping the system of carbon budgets, and ending the use of coal for power (unless technology such as carbon capture and storage is used).

But more than that, the UK sees climate change as an opportunity. Many studies, including the seminal New Climate Economy report, show that all economies can benefit by taking action to reduce their emissions. The UK has seen this first hand. For instance the low carbon sector contributed £45 billion ($90 billion) to the UK economy in 2013, and employed 460,000 people. The UK also now has more offshore wind power installed than the rest of the world combined.

A big part of my job this year is to talk about the international climate negotiations*. In Paris in December, there will be important discussions that aim to create an effective and lasting climate agreement to keep temperature rise below 2 degrees. These negotiations are important but complex, and many people find them daunting. If you’re one of those people, you may be interested in a series of events we’re running next week with EU colleagues, to celebrate EU climate diplomacy day on June 17^th. In seven cities around Australia we will be screening a free film to explain the climate negotiations, and the screenings will be accompanied by an interesting panel of speakers: scientists, NGOs, business groups, diplomats and politicians. The list of events is here, all are welcome!

So that’s why the UK has invested in a network of people who work on climate change in many countries, including Australia. Because climate change is important. Because it’s an opportunity to create sustainable economic growth and improve prosperity for all countries. And because the UK wants to work on a global scale to achieve the many benefits of climate action. For me, it’s nice to be part of that!

* If you want to know more on what the UK is trying to achieve in these negotiations, our policy experts in London have written a very good paper on the UK’s position here.