UK: Developed world must commit to 80% emissions cut by 2050
Monday 29 June 2009
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| Gordon Brown is hoping to secure a package worth £60 billion to help poorer countries cut their carbon emissions |
The developed world must agree to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, the government has said.
Officials believe that the move will help reduce
global carbon emissions by 50%, while allowing developing countries room for growth.
The statement forms part of the government's "Road to Copenhagen" climate change manifesto, launched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday (June 26, 2009) ahead of global climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year.
Speaking on at the launch of manifesto on Friday, the Prime Minister said: "An ambitious agreement in Copenhagen is certainly achievable. And yet it remains far from certain. We cannot allow this to drift - when every year of delay retards investment, locks us into a higher emissions pathway, worsens the impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable, and increases the costs of eventual reduction.
"Copenhagen is twenty-three weeks away. When historians look back on this critical moment, let them say, not that we were the generation that failed our children; but that we had the courage, and the will, to succeed."
Package
Also in the manifesto are proposals to help poorer countries cut their carbon emissions.
The Prime Minister pledged that the UK will play its part in providing financial aid for climate mitigation in the developing world, and urged countries to work together on a global figure of around $100 billion (£60 billion) per year by 2020.
We cannot allow this to drift - when every year of delay retards investment, locks us into a higher emissions pathway
He also called for aviation and maritime emissions to be part of the Copenhagen agreement, and for forestry to become part of the carbon trading market in a bid to prevent deforestation.
Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "This is make or break time for our climate and our future. With less than six months to go before crunch negotiations in Copenhagen, it's clear that there is no plan B for the planet. The world's got no option but to work together to get a global climate deal that's ambitious, effective and fair."
He added: "For people in Britain, getting a global deal now will mean reducing the risk of devastating future climate impacts and the huge extra costs that would bring. But it will also open the door to big new opportunities to create green jobs and economic prosperity."
The government wants nations around the world to agree to limit climate change to two degrees, by making sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak and start to reduce by 2020, and keep on shrinking to reach at most half of their 1990 levels by 2050.
And in advance of the G8 and Major Economies Summits in Italy next month, Gordon Brown urged his fellow leaders to agree on a new financing system to provide predictable and additional assistance to developing countries.
This would comprise investment flowing through a global carbon market, new mechanisms to raise public finance and a limited proportion of Official Development Assistance.
The funds would help developing countries to cut their emissions, use greener technology and reduce deforestation, as well as helping the poorest and most vulnerable countries cope with the effects of climate change already now occurring.
The Prime Minister also proposed far-reaching delivery and institutional arrangements to enhance developing countries' voice in how the money is spent and to enhance coordination between all the institutions dealing with climate finance.
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