Global News
Posted ITN - Monday, November 19 06:58 am:
Brown wants UK to lead climate fight
Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Britain to lead the fight against global warming and has hinted that climate change policies must become more ambitious.
Mr Brown makes his first major speech on the issue later and will underscore the need to act immediately to combat global warming and argue that green measures do not have to damage economic growth.
His speech follows a major scientific report from the United Nations which warned that the Earth is heating up at a quickening pace because of human activity and the results could be catastrophic if action is not taken.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that current trends would see temperatures rise by up to 4C and sea levels 60 cm higher by 2100.
Mr Brown has said he is determined to act and, despite recent reports that he has been under pressure from ministers to curb commitments to reducing carbon emissions, is expected to stress he is looking at the possibility of making them even tougher.
Mr Brown will also cite International Energy Agency predictions of soaring energy demand.
He will argue that, rather than holding back growth in the UK, efforts to tackle climate change offer economic opportunities in the development of new low carbon technology.
It is possible to be both pro-environment and pro-growth, he will say.
His speech comes ahead of a major UN conference in Bali next month when countries will work on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr Brown's call for the most developed countries to take a lead on reducing carbon emissions will be seen as a message to the US, which famously shunned Kyoto, that it needs to be on board.
Speaking at the weekend in response to the IPCC report, Mr Brown said that the world had to face up to the challenge of climate change urgently.
"Developed countries have historic responsibility for causing climate change, and have the greatest capacity for reducing emissions," he said.
"So we must show leadership and take the first and largest responsibility. That is why I am asking the UK's independent climate change committee to report on whether our target of a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050, already greater than most other countries, should be even stronger still."
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that the world had to work together to deal with the issue.
"Concentrated and sustained action can still avoid some of the most catastrophic scenarios," he said.
Taken from Yahoo News: http://tinyurl.com/yodlxa