Downing Street Says » Climate Change

Asked what was the Prime Minister’s opinion on the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) recent climate change criticisms, the PMOS replied as Alastair Darling had made clear this morning that we remained committed to our CO2 target, which was to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2010. We were also one of the few countries who were on target to meet our Kyoto target as well. However, the reality that we all faced was that Kyoto did not include the United States, India or China, and that was why it was so vital that we started to try and get a consensus on what happened post-Kyoto, and we started that process now.

That was also why Gleneagles and the G8 +G5 meeting, which was held earlier in the month, was also so important. What we needed to develop was not only the technology which would allow us to deal with climate change, but also the agreement to share that technology. There was a choice in this: either stand on the sideline and shout at those who were not part of the Kyoto process, or engage with those who were not part of the Kyoto process and try and find consensus about how the issue was dealt with. We believed that the process that was started at Gleneagles was beginning to work, there was a real dialogue and therefore, we would reject the WWF criticisms.

Put to the PMOS that David King said in a radio interview today that we would probably miss the 2010 emissions target, and what was the Government planning to do about getting back on schedule, the PMOS said that it was surely only a shortage of time that stopped the journalist from finishing off the quote, as David King also said he was sure that Ministers would try their hardest to meet the target! The PMOS said we would "bust a gut" to meet the target, and we had already announced last week, for example, the 5 per cent target for introduction of biofuels into petrol by 2010. That would have a massive impact. Equally, we were carrying out the Energy Review, and that would report in the Spring. It was not as if we were simply standing back, wringing our hands; rather, we were actively working to try and achieve the 2010 target.

Put to the PMOS that if the World Trade talks were so important, why was the Prime Minister not going to Hong Kong, the PMOS said there were levels at which these negotiations were conducted, and they would be done at the appropriate level. What the Prime Minister had made clear, however, was that we needed to not lower our ambition, but to try and use Hong Kong as part of the overall round that would take us further forward. That process would run to the end of 2006, but Hong Kong had to take us significantly further forward.

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» Monday, November 14, 2005

Climate Change

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