‘More sensitive mechanisms’ needed to tackle climate change
Tony Blair last night signalled a shift away from the emphasis on targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions towards the use of technology and science.
The prime minister was speaking after a meeting in London of environment ministers from the G8 of leading industrial nations alongside those from developing countries.
Mr Blair told reporters that the evidence of climate change was getting stronger, but insisted tackling the problem required “more sensitive mechanisms” than the emissions-cutting targets established under the Kyoto protocol.
The US refused to sign up to this agreement – which requires signatories to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12.5 per cent on 1990 levels by the end of the decade – as did the world’s two largest emerging economies, China and India.
And yesterday the prime minister admitted that while Kyoto had been important, “the blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge”.
Instead, he said it was vital to focus more on dealing with the problem on a “sustainable basis”, saying: “The solutions will come in the end, in part at least, through the private sector in developing the technology and science.”
The summit, which agreed to work together on cleaner, low carbon technologies, comes ahead of the United Nations talks in Montreal later this month on how to tackle the problem of climate change after Kyoto.
“If we can deal with this in the right way and have this informal mechanism then I think we can find a way of meeting what I believe is the clear desire of our people – which is to find a way of combining rising living standards with the responsibility to protect our environment,” Mr Blair added.
Speaking earlier, trade and industry secretary Alan Johnson said the meeting underlined the broad consensus need to tackle climate change while at the same time maintaining economic growth.
“We now need to identify priorities for cooperation, in both the short and long term. And we need to set a clear context for the private sector to invest in low carbon technologies with signals that are ‘loud, long and legal’,” he said.
The shift in emphasis was met with dismay from environmentalists, however, and Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper warned a move away from targets could have “disastrous” consequences.
He welcomed Mr Blair’s efforts to keep climate change on the agenda, but said: “There has been a lot of discussion about the false choice between targets and technologies, but the reality is that without both we cannot achieve either.”
Mr Juniper added: “It is absolutely essential, if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change, that British ministers are sent to Montreal with a very clear brief as to what they are negotiating for.
“The prime minister must urgently elaborate what Britain’s more sensitive mechanisms will involve.”
