Blair: Global warming “single biggest long-term problem”
The Prime Minister has told a group of senior MPs that he believes climate change is the “single biggest long-term problem we face” in the world, with the evidence for this being “overwhelming”.
The Kyoto treaty amounts to a one per cent reduction in carbon emissions, whereas a 60 per cent reduction is needed by 2050, Tony Blair added.
The Prime Minister was responding to questions at his twice yearly grilling by the Liaison Committee, whose members chair the Commons select committees.
Mr Blair also pledged to make renewable energy and global warming a key issue in the UK’s presidency of the G8 next year.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that there was a need to overcome significant opposition from the USA on climate change, but said the UK would continue to push for compliance.
He said that the debate in the US is beginning to shift, with the scientific evidence on climate change now becoming accepted. Kyoto, he said, is an “essential first step” that needs to be built on.
Replying to questions from Ian Gibson, the chair of the Science and Technology Committee, on warnings that the UK’s renewable energy target will not be met, Mr Blair reassured MPs that it would, saying that initiatives would be stepped up.
On nuclear power, which Robert Key argued the Government should be promoting, Mr Blair accepted that it will have to be on the agenda if the world is to tackle climate change.
He said the public will have to be involved, noting high levels of concern about safety. A lot more work will have to be done to ensure that people understand the science, and the difference between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.
The Government, together with the US, is putting money into nuclear fusion research, Mr Blair noted, with the US putting significant amounts of money into research.
Chair of the DTI committee Martin O’Neill pointed out that there will be a generating gap around 2013-2015, and that the UK cannot wait until stations are developed. Tony Blair responded that there are some “very difficult decisions” to be taken in the next few years. He did not agree with the ‘central thrust’ that action has to be taken on energy policy. The paper on energy policy looks at this, he added. “Big and bold” decisions have to be taken in the long-term, he concluded.
Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee Peter Ainsworth suggested that the Prime Minister was leaving this a bit late, noting the time needed to build nuclear power stations. Tony Blair stated that the decision on this had not yet been made, and would not be in the near future. A decision on nuclear power does not have to be taken at this time, he went on, and the Government had left the door open.
In the near-term we can meet our energy requirement, he told MPs, and the difficult issue is the interplay between the environment and energy supply.
