Blair promises international leadership on climate change
The Prime Minister has this evening emphasised the problem of climate change, and promised to use the UK’s forthcoming presidency of the G8 and the EU Council of Ministers to pursue this agenda.
Addressing the Prince of Wales Business and Environment Programme’s tenth anniversary conference today, Mr Blair declared, “there is no doubt in my mind that the time to act is now.”
He warned that the political paradox of climate change is that the worst of its effects will not be felt by the current political generation, and that no one country alone can deal with it.
Insisting that his Government is fully committed to addressing the problem – and outlining a number of strategies that will be pursued next year – Mr Blair warned that business and the rest of society need to demonstrate that they support this political lead.
Urging Russia and the USA to make a greater contribution to tackling climate change, Mr Blair acknowledged that the environment is “an issue of high and fraught politics for many countries”, but he added, “we must try”.
To bed in the climate change agenda on the international list of priorities, Mr Blair announced that a special scientific conference will be held next February to answer the big questions on the science of climate change: to determine precisely how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can stand, and how current levels can be best brought down.
Stressing that climate change is the main issue identified by most young people he speaks to, Mr Blair acknowledged nonetheless that there is a strong instinctual element behind many people’s reaction to the problem: “If we upset the balance of nature, we are in all probability going to suffer a reaction.”
Mr Blair was introduced by Prince Charles, who expressed deep concern at the industrialised world’s apparent inability or refusal to address the problem of over-fishing.
