Blair Urges G8 to Act Now on Climate Progress on Warming is a Duty, PM Tells Leaders

Blair Urges G8 to Act Now on Climate Progress on Warming is a Duty, PM Tells Leaders

Jun 04 - Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

Tony Blair last night upped the pressure on his fellow G8 leaders, insisting "this is the time to act" on climate change and reminding them they had a "duty" to make progress on the agenda- topping issue at this week's German summit.

The Prime Minister's exhortation came as some predicted a diplomatic showdown between the EU, which wants binding targets on cutting greenhouse gases, and the US, which has talked of voluntary ones for the worst polluters. Recently, US negotiators rejected a draft G8 statement on climate change that included the EU's proposed 50per cent reduction in CO 2emissions by 2050.

Underlining the difficulties ahead, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who will host the summit, said: "We will wrestle with climate change until the very last minute. You will see there are differing opinions from the fact that some things might not be in the final document."

This suggests the final communique might be nothing more than an agreement to disagree - ie stalemate.

Ahead of Wednesday's start to the three-day conference at Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast, security measures were being tightened in light of Saturday's violence at nearby Rostock, in which hundreds of people were injured following anti-globalisation protests.

Yesterday, Mr Blair undertook a whistlestop visit to Berlin to brief Ms Merkel on his trip to Africa and to press home the need for action not just on climate change but also on honouring the Gleneagles commitment on tackling Third World poverty. The G8 leaders are expected to confirm their intention to implement pledges made in Scotland in 2005 for an extra GBP25bn in annual aid by 2010.

The Prime Minister insisted this week's summit presented "a huge opportunity" to make a "historic breakthrough" in the process of agreeing a new phase of climate change measures after the Kyoto targets expire in 2012.

Yesterday's bilateral talks with Ms Merkel were aimed at giving extra momentum to the drive for agreement when the G8 countries - the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia - meet with the "plus five" developing states of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.

While Mr Blair hailed last week's call by George W Bush for a new global framework on climate change as "an important step forward" as it showed America was making clear for the first time it wanted a longterm worldwide goal, environmentalists have voiced concerns that Washington's plan for a separate summit in the autumn could divert energy away from the G8 process, which involves a UN-sponsored summit in Bali in December.

In a speech at the Berlin parliament, Mr Blair said there was now an "overwhelming consensus" that human activity was altering the planet's climate but he warned progress on tackling it had to be "quicker and bolder".

He said: "The science tells us time is running out? Given the evidence, given the scale of the disaster should that evidence be correct, it would be grossly, unforgivably irresponsible not to act."

He added: "We simply don't have the luxury of the five years it took us to agree Kyoto ? Now is the time to act. It is our duty to do so."

Outside pressure was also mounting on the world leaders with a report backed by development charities that claimed they had a "moral obligation" to keep global temperature rises to below 2C. Any rise above that level could leave more than a billion people in poor countries facing water shortages, 250 million suffering shortages of food and up to 80 million more exposed to malaria.

Mr Blair's warning came after a clear signal at the weekend from Gordon Brown, who will succeed him in No 10 later this month, that there should be a new global environmental agency.

Speaking in Glasgow, the Chancellor talked about how international institutions had to be "reinvented for a new era" but also noted the absence of a global green watchdog.

"We don't have an international institution that is acting to improve the environment, " he said. "We don't yet have an international institution investing substantially in energy efficiency and alternative sources of energy in the poorest countries."