Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change calls for political momentum to drive forward climate change deal

8 July 2009

Joan Ruddock, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, spoke of the need to secure a political momentum to drive forward negotiations on a global climate deal.

‘It is no exaggeration to say that our environment, our economy, and our whole way of life are under threat from the impacts of the changing climate,’ Ruddock said.

Ruddock recently embarked on a trip to Greenland where she met ministers and advisers to informally discuss what needs to be addressed in Copenhagen later this year. Although the recent United Nations climate change talks in Bonn provided some sense of the route needed, the Department of Energy and Climate Change acknowledges that there is still much to be done.

‘As politicians all know we need to act now. To prepare the foundations for a safer future for our children, and the generations that follow. But just as crucially we have to deal with the unavoidable impacts we are locked into and already perceiving, following centuries of damaging human activity,’ Ruddock continued.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently launched the UK government’s case for an ambitious international agreement on climate change, titled ‘The Road to Copenhagen’. The UK government believes that developed countries must show leadership and set new binding targets to reduce emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050. In order to achieve such targets, the Prime Minister has proposed an international partnership on public finance for climate change, seeking for countries to work together to raise $100bn a year by 2020. According to Ruddock, the UK government now supports over £50bn of low carbon investment in the current spending period. The UK market in low carbon technologies is worth an estimated £106bn, with the global figure reckoned to be in the region of £3tn.

‘We need a deal that is effective because the agreement needs to secure a framework to drive investment and establish the market for clean energy, sustainable forestry and land use, and for adaptation to climate change. There must be trust that finance flows will be secured in a predictable way to ensure that the most vulnerable and poorest countries can develop while being helped to adjust to the climate change already underway,’ Ruddock concluded.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: climate change, energy efficiency

This story was published on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 11:08 am and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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