Labour appoints Oil baron Rachel Kyte as climate envoy role

Labour appoints oil baron Rachel Kyte as climate envoy role

Labour appoints oil baron Rachel Kyte as the new climate chief at the World Bank and will lead UK’s return to high-level environmental diplomacy.

Who is Rachel Kyte, the UK’s new climate envoy?

A former oil baron of the World Bank has been appointed to lead the UK’s efforts to forge a global coalition on climate action. As the climate chief at the World Bank and she will lead UK’s environmental diplomacy.

She has a board connection with Quadrature which is hedge fund with shares worth hundreds of millions of pounds in fossil fuels, private health firms, arms manufacturers and asset managers.

Axed by Sunak

Rachel Kyte, who previously served as special representative for the UN and a vice-president of the World Bank, will take up the role of climate envoy to lead the UK’s return to the front ranks of global climate diplomacy.

As Labour appoints Rachel Kyte as climate envoy role who was axed by Rishi Sunak signals the intent of the Labour government to bring back their own people into the positions of influence and to reward donors with jobs even if there is a conflict of interest.

Hedge fund Quadrature

She was the chair of the firm which gave a £4m donation to the Labour Party, from the offshore tax-registered hedge fund Quadrature. At the time of the donation she was the co-chair of a board of its charitable foundation arm.

Quadrature’s donation is noteworthy not just for being Labour’s largest-ever, but for its timing ahead of election. Ironically Quadrature can now iunflunce the climate envoy role whilst building a portfolio based on oil and arms, the connection was first Exposed by open democracy.

What is the salary of a Government Climate Envoy role

Government climate envoy role commands a salary of at least £130,000 per year plus an expense account, from Quadrature, who incidentally is also investing in the arms that are being used for genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.

In 2023 Quadrature had an investment portfolio of £1.2bn in stocks and share, including oil, fossil fuels and arms for war. They currently bank with HSBC.

Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski said that the donation shows Labour now “stands for multi-millionaires and billionaires over our working-class communities”.

Polanski said: “Far from being the party in service of working people, Starmer’s Labour Party seems indebted to the bankers and bosses who profit from pillaging our public services and our planet.