G8 leaders turn to climate change
Global warming is top of the agenda today as the G8 summit of leaders of the world’s richest countries gets underway in Gleneagles.
Tony Blair, who is chairing the two-day meeting, has set out three broad aims for what he wants to achieve to tackle what is “probably, long term, the single most important issue we face as a global community”.
These include setting out a clear statement of what needs to be done, based on the latest science available, and agreeing a package of practical measures, focusing on technology.
Establishing a consensus with emerging economies such as China and India on how to deal with climate change in the future is also a priority – one of the main reasons the US refused to sign up to the Kyoto protocol was because it did not include developing nations.
President George Bush has already ruled out any new international agreement on cutting emissions on the basis that it would wreck the US economy, but Mr Blair said this morning that this was not on the agenda.
“We are not going to agree some new treaty on climate change at the G8. That is not what it’s about,” the prime minister told reporters following a breakfast meeting at the summit.
“It is about seeing whether it’s possible to bring people back into some consensus together. Can we do that? I don’t know. But it’s important that we at least begin a process of dialogue.”
Mr Bush has, however, accepted that human action is contributing to climate change and said the US was committed to investing in new technologies that would provide an alternative to fossil fuels.
“I recognise that greenhouse gases are an issue and we must deal with that. But I also believe that technology will enable the world to grow our economy and at the same time be wiser about how we protect the environment,” he said.
The Bush administration was putting more than $1 billion into researching hydrogen technology for cars, the president said, while efforts were also being made to “neutralize and then reduce” the effect of greenhouse gases over time.
