Tuesday, September 14, 2004
By Mike Peacock, Reuters
LONDON — Britain's Tony Blair will make an uncompromising
speech on climate change on Tuesday, urging the world to act
in concert and pressing Washington to change its stance.
Government sources say the prime minister's speech, to environmental
experts, should not be seen as a cooling of relations with
President George W. Bush.
Blair has long promised to make the environment and cutting
greenhouse gases the centerpiece of Britain's presidency of
the G8 in 2005.
Bush refused to sign up to the 1997 Kyoto treaty on greenhouse
gases, saying it would be too costly. The United States is
the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Blair's focus on the environment — an issue traditionally
close to the heart of his Labor Party — comes as he seeks
to appease voters who have been angered by his support for
Bush over the Iraq war before an expected general election
next year.
His main political opponent Michael Howard, leader of the
opposition Conservative Party, made his own foray into the
subject on Monday, saying Blair's inability to make Washington
shift on climate change demonstrates his impotence with Bush.
"No one can opt out of the fight against global warming,"
said Howard, a former environment secretary who signed the
Climate Change Convention, the forerunner of Kyoto.
Persuading the Americans
"That means persuading the Americans to join the battle
against climate change," Howard continued. "It is
very disappointing that Tony Blair has not succeeded in persuading
the present administration that the challenge of global warming
is one that cannot be shirked."
Howard pledged that a Conservative government would commit
to expand renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
Blair's passionate plea for the world to act on climate change
is nothing new but its timing — less than two months before
U.S. presidential elections — is telling. His Labor government
has committed Britain to green technology and more efficient
use of energy to achieve a 60 percent cut in carbon emissions
by 2050.
Environmental pressure groups said they welcomed Blair's
intervention, although some critics said they had heard the
prime minister talk passionately about climate change before,
only to see little follow-up action.
"Tony Blair has a historic opportunity to lead the world
in the crucial battle against climate change," Friends
of the Earth director Tony Juniper said. "We are delighted
that he will be putting it at the top of the E.U. and G8 political
agenda. The prime minister must awaken the world to the scale
of the problem and say that the time has come for tough decisions
and tough action," he said.
Sir David King, the government's chief scientist, has stated
that global warming poses a greater threat to the world than
terrorism.
Source: Reuters
|