Woke civil servants are spending hours discussing politically contentious issues around climate change – including demands for reparations and criticising existing eco policies – during office hours. Workshop invitations seen by the Express show civil servants are set to take an hour off tomorrow afternoon to attend a talk on “climate justice”.
One of the issues up for discussion is the politically controversial topic of “reparation on the global stage”, a policy advocated by hardliner climate activists who want Britain and the West to hand over billions to countries most affected by global warming.
The event follows a similar one on the 12th, which also saw taxpayer-funded mandarins use work hours to discuss “a just transition to meet climate and environment targets”.
The meetings are not limited to those civil servants working in the Department for the Environment, with anyone able to sign up and get time away from their official duties.
Tomorrow’s discussion description also details that civil servants will “critique past records and future plans of leaders implementing change”.
If criticism is directed at the Government’s official policy, including Rishi Sunak’s recent decision to delay certain Net Zero targets in light of the cost of living crisis, this would imply a breach of the civil service’s requirement to remain politically neutral.
Promoting the Climate Justice movement, the organisers say it “offers a vision of climate action that addresses inequalities and targets injustice”.
“This is an expansive topic and we hope the session can cover a broad range of complex issues around justice, reparations, and mitigation in the context of global inequality, climate migration, indigenous experiences, and climate rights.”
One guest speaker at tomorrow’s event, Edinburgh University lecturer Dr Liz Cripps, is promoted as demanding action that “dissects institutionalised injustice and the legacy of colonialism, exploring our obligations to each other and the natural world”.
She also “pinpoints climate activism as a moral duty”.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg slammed the event, telling the Express: “These political activities ought to take place outside office hours and without the benefit of taxpayer-funded facilities”.
Attention on civil servants spending working hours in eyebrow-raising events heightened in 2021, when it emerged some mandarins at the Department for Work and Pensions spent a lunchtime in a Q&A with a witch.
That week the department also hosted a “bitesize session to being a pagan”.
Other historic events have included crystal healing sessions, sack races, watercolour painting groups and white awareness courses, all while the Government faces an uphill struggle forcing civil servants to spend four days a week working from the office.
The event is organised by the Civil Service Climate and Environment Network, which says it “aims to educate, develop and inspire civil servants who are interested in environmental science and policy”.
It’s one of many ‘staff networks’ within the civil service, including the vegan network, LGBT+ network, race forum and A:gender, which put on events and talks.
One civil service source described the event as representing the “rot from within” Whitehall, amid Tory anger over ‘the blob’.