“This is a make or
break time for our climate and our future”, UK Climate and Energy
Secretary Ed Miliband said today as the Government for the first
time ever set out its detailed position ahead of global climate
talks.
And making a keynote speech aimed at unblocking the most
contentious area of the talks, Prime Minister Gordon Brown broke
new ground among world leaders in setting out how the world should
pay for avoiding dangerous climate change and adapting to its
impacts.
With less than six months left before crucial climate
negotiations take place in the Danish capital Copenhagen, the
Government today sets out for the first time why an international
climate change agreement is vital for the world and what a deal
must contain. The UK argues the global deal on climate change must be:
• Ambitious – limit climate change to 2 degrees, by making sure
global greenhouse gas emissions peak and start to reduce by 2020,
and keep on shrinking to reach at most half of their 1990 levels
by 2050.
• Effective – keep all countries to their word with strong
monitoring, reporting and verification; and let money flow to
where it will make most difference by developing carbon markets
• Fair – support the poorest countries to cut their emissions and
adapt to climate change.
Success in Copenhagen is also vital for Britain’s economic
future and national security. Building a low carbon Britain and
securing a Copenhagen deal will be in our business and economic
interests. Over 800,000 people are now employed in the low carbon
sector in the UK and well over a million jobs are predicted by the
middle of the next decade.
In his speech, the Prime Minister proposed a way forward for
developed and developing countries to agree new mechanisms to pay
for tackling climate change. He urged countries to work together
on a global figure of around $100 billion per year by 2020 to help
developing countries reduce their emissions, tackle deforestation
and adapt to the climate change already being experienced. He
committed the UK to providing new finance additional to existing
Official Development Assistance commitments.
Publishing ‘The Road to Copenhagen’, a manifesto for a global
climate deal, Ed Miliband said:
“This is make or break time for our climate and our future. With
less than six months to go before crunch negotiations in
Copenhagen, it’s clear that there is no plan B for the planet.
“The world’s got no option but to work together to get a global
climate deal that’s ambitious, effective and fair.
“Our climate manifesto puts the British public in the front and
centre of our efforts to get a climate deal.
“For people in Britain, getting a global deal now will mean
reducing the risk of devastating future climate impacts and the
huge extra costs that would bring. But it will also open the door
to big new opportunities to create green jobs and economic prosperity.”
In advance of the G8 and Major Economies Summits in Italy next
month, Gordon Brown urged his fellow leaders to agree on a new
financing system to provide predictable and additional assistance
to developing countries. This would comprise investment flowing
through a global carbon market, new mechanisms to raise public
finance and a limited proportion of Official Development
Assistance.
The funds would help developing countries to cut their emissions,
use greener technology and reduce deforestation, as well as
helping the poorest and most vulnerable countries cope with the
effects of climate change already now occurring.
The Prime Minister also proposed far-reaching delivery and
institutional arrangements to enhance developing countries’ voice
in how the money is spent and to enhance coordination between all
the institutions dealing with climate finance.
Prime Minister
Gordon Brown told ambassadors, green groups and business
organisations gathered in London:
"The UK is determined to secure an international
agreement at Copenhagen that puts the world on a path to avoiding
dangerous climate change. All countries have to take action, but
to help developing countries move to low-carbon and
climate-resilient growth we will need a new system of financial
support for greener technology, deforestation and adaptation. I
hope the proposals I set out today can help move the talks in that
direction."
Douglas Alexander, the UK’s Development Secretary, added:
"Climate change is a development issue. It is the
world’s poorest people that are most vulnerable to the rising sea
levels and extreme weather that a changing climate will bring, and
it is vital that our work in tackling poverty reflects this.
"That is why funds are needed in addition to existing
aid budgets, and why the UK is leading the way in helping
developing countries to both prepare for the impact of climate
change and build for a low-carbon future."
As part of the countdown to Copenhagen, the Government today:
• Publishes and lays before Parliament ‘The Road to Copenhagen’,
a document setting out why a deal is so important and for the
first time, the details of what kind a deal the UK Government is
pushing for.
• Distributes nearly 20,000 ‘Road to Copenhagen’ pamphlets, also
available online, out to schools, citizens advice centres and
every library explaining why a global deal is vital and giving 15
top tips on what each of us can do to cut our carbon footprint as
part of the global effort.
• Launches www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk
– the official UK government website presenting information on the
climate change negotiations. It will act as the domestic and
international hub for information and communications in the lead
up to the UN talks in Copenhagen, 2009.
• Presents a new and improved Act on CO2 online carbon calculator
where people can log on and find out how to lower their carbon
footprint and save money at the save time – http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk
Today’s announcement forms part of the Government’s 5-Point
Plan to tackle climate change:
• protecting the public from immediate risk
• preparing for
the future through adaptation
• pushing for an international
agreement
• building a low carbon Britain
• helping
everyone play their part.
It follows the UK Climate Projections published last week which
showed that if the world follows a high emissions path, by the
2080s temperatures in Britain could be up to 12 degrees C warmer
on the hottest summer days and sea levels could rise by 36 cm.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Prime Minister’s speech will be available at http://www.number10.gov.uk/
The Road to Copenhagen and all other accompanying material is
available on the new www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk website.
Details of the climate projections can be found here: http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/
Today’s announcements form part of the Government’s five point
plan to tackle climate change. More here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn062/pn062.aspx
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