Blair says U.S. must act on global warming
Blair says U.S. must act on global warming
British PM says delaying action on climate change will be costly
mongabay.com
October 30, 2006
Delaying action on global warming will take the planet into “dangerous territory” warns a new report released Monday by the British government.
In The Sun Tony Blair, Britain’s Prime Minister called the report “the important document on the future” he’s read since becoming Prime Minister.
“The Stern Report should be seen across the globe as the final word on why the world must act now to limit the damage we are doing to our planet,” said Blair. “The conclusions are a wake-up call to every country in the world. The case for action is the final piece of the jigsaw to convince every single political leader, including those in America, China and India, that this must be top of their agenda. The report is clear: We are heading towards catastrophic tipping points in our climate unless we act.”
Blair said the world must create cleaner energy and follow through on commitments under the Kyoto Protocal.
A news release from the British government appears below
Small changes can make a big difference
The evidence of climate change and the impact it will have on our lives becomes more compelling by the week. There is now overwhelming scientific agreement that the world is getting warmer and that human activity – and in particular greenhouse gases – is playing a major role in this change.
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The ten hottest years on record have all occurred since 1991. Without urgent and decisive international act, it is predicted temperatures will keep increasing so that they average between 2 and 5 degrees more by the end of the century than before the industrial revolution. There is also the grim warning that soon it will be too late to halt or reverse this change.
While warmer days may seem a good thing, the overall impact of climate change is not. It will bring, as we may already be experiencing, more extreme weather such as storms and droughts with the resultant famines and spread of disease. Rising sea levels already threatening parts of our coastline, will put millions more at risk of flooding around the world.
All this will have a heavy human and economic cost, particularly as the biggest impact will fall on those countries which are already the poorest. The Stern review suggests combating the impact of climate change could cost as much as 20% of the world’s GDP – much more than the cost of acting now to prevent it.
For just as technological progress and human activity has helped cause this problem, it is also within our power to lessen its impact and adapt to change. Science has alerted us to the dangers our planet faces and will help us meet these challenges.
But we need to act now. The Kyoto Protocol showed the world was slowly waking up to the threat we face. But it did not include some of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouses gases and does not go nearly far enough.
Britain has set a lead both domestically and internationally. The UK is on target to reduce greenhouse gases by over 20% of 1990 levels – double our Kyoto target. The UK’s G8 Presidency made progress towards a new international agreement on climate change including all countries.
More, however, needs to be done and quickly, nationally and internationally. There has to be a more radical framework agreed post- 2012 that includes a goal to stabilise emissions in the atmosphere, a global cap and trade scheme, and measures to help poor countries adapt.
There has to be a big investment in new technology, renewable energy and carbon neutral power generation. Tougher standards need to be agreed on energy efficiency in Europe to stop wastage from light bulbs, fridges and standby. And individuals can play their part. If every household replaced just three ordinary light bulbs with energy efficient ones, the electricity saved would be enough to power all Britain’s street lights. Small changes can help make a big difference.