Loki
12-17-2009, 04:02 PM
Gordon Brown demands action to stop Copenhagen collapse (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/806574-gordon-brown-demands-action-to-stop-copenhagen-collapse)
Gordon Brown demanded more ambition from countries deadlocked in climate change talks today but conceded that it could take up to a year to secure a binding international deal on global warming.
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/17/article-1261050916224-07A247F5000005DC-845626_223x317.jpg
With the Copenhagen negotiations mired in procedural wrangles, the Prime Minister used his keynote speech to appeal for "the highest possible level of ambition".
UK officials conceded today that the process was in "serious difficulty" with time running out for deep disputes among the 192 nations to be resolved before world leaders try to finalise agreement tomorrow.
In a last-ditch bid to end the impasse, Mr Brown told delegates: "My talks this week convince me that while the challenges we face are difficult and testing, there is no insuperable barrier of finance, no inevitable deficit of political will, no insurmountable wall of division that need prevent us from rising to the needed common purpose and ... reaching agreement now.
"In these few days in Copenhagen, which will be blessed or blamed for generations to come, we cannot permit the politics of narrow self-interest to prevent a policy for human survival."
He called on richer states such as the US and European countries to offer the maximum possible reductions in emissions and to pledge not to cut other aid to pay for long-term help for the developing world.
Poorer nations also had to raise their ambitions, he warned, and he said agreement was needed on transparency to ensure commitments were met.
That is a potential sticking point with China, with whose premier Wen Jiabao he will hold the latest of a series of bilateral discussions this afternoon.
But Mr Brown, who has in recent days put a six-month deadline on turning any political agreement signed in Copenhagen into a legally-binding treaty, said twice that time could be needed.
He said: "I come to this, the largest ever global conference, facing the greatest global challenge of our time, to appeal to you to summon up the highest level of ambition and will.
"And the success of our endeavours depends on us forging a new alliance, the first global alliance of 192 - not one bloc against another, not rich against poor - but a new alliance for the preservation of our planet."
He went on: "Informed by science, moved by conscience, inspired by common purpose, we, the leaders of this fragile world, must affirm: we will not condemn millions to injustice without remedy, to sorrow without hope, to deprivation without end.
"The task of politics is to overcome obstacles even when people say they are too formidable.
"And the task of statesmanship is to make the essential possible, to make ideals real even when critics tell you they are impractical and unachievable."
No country was being asked to "suspend" its national interest, he said, "but to advance it more intelligently".
"For nothing matters more to any nation's interest than the fate of the only world we have."
A deal would create green jobs in developed countries such as the UK and give the developing nations the chance to grow without needing a high-carbon economy.
Citing Winston Churchill, he said: "It is not enough for us to do the least we can get away with when history asks that we demand the most of ourselves.
"As one of the greatest of world leaders warned at a different time of peril, 'it is no use saying we are doing our best'.
"Let us demonstrate a strength of resolve equal to the greatness of our cause.
"And let us prove today and tomorrow the enduring truth that is more telling than any passing setback: that what we can achieve together is far greater than whatever we can achieve unilaterally and alone."
Mr Brown is among a succession of leaders addressing the conference today although US president Barack Obama is not due to arrive until the leaders convene tomorrow.
Gordon Brown demanded more ambition from countries deadlocked in climate change talks today but conceded that it could take up to a year to secure a binding international deal on global warming.
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/17/article-1261050916224-07A247F5000005DC-845626_223x317.jpg
With the Copenhagen negotiations mired in procedural wrangles, the Prime Minister used his keynote speech to appeal for "the highest possible level of ambition".
UK officials conceded today that the process was in "serious difficulty" with time running out for deep disputes among the 192 nations to be resolved before world leaders try to finalise agreement tomorrow.
In a last-ditch bid to end the impasse, Mr Brown told delegates: "My talks this week convince me that while the challenges we face are difficult and testing, there is no insuperable barrier of finance, no inevitable deficit of political will, no insurmountable wall of division that need prevent us from rising to the needed common purpose and ... reaching agreement now.
"In these few days in Copenhagen, which will be blessed or blamed for generations to come, we cannot permit the politics of narrow self-interest to prevent a policy for human survival."
He called on richer states such as the US and European countries to offer the maximum possible reductions in emissions and to pledge not to cut other aid to pay for long-term help for the developing world.
Poorer nations also had to raise their ambitions, he warned, and he said agreement was needed on transparency to ensure commitments were met.
That is a potential sticking point with China, with whose premier Wen Jiabao he will hold the latest of a series of bilateral discussions this afternoon.
But Mr Brown, who has in recent days put a six-month deadline on turning any political agreement signed in Copenhagen into a legally-binding treaty, said twice that time could be needed.
He said: "I come to this, the largest ever global conference, facing the greatest global challenge of our time, to appeal to you to summon up the highest level of ambition and will.
"And the success of our endeavours depends on us forging a new alliance, the first global alliance of 192 - not one bloc against another, not rich against poor - but a new alliance for the preservation of our planet."
He went on: "Informed by science, moved by conscience, inspired by common purpose, we, the leaders of this fragile world, must affirm: we will not condemn millions to injustice without remedy, to sorrow without hope, to deprivation without end.
"The task of politics is to overcome obstacles even when people say they are too formidable.
"And the task of statesmanship is to make the essential possible, to make ideals real even when critics tell you they are impractical and unachievable."
No country was being asked to "suspend" its national interest, he said, "but to advance it more intelligently".
"For nothing matters more to any nation's interest than the fate of the only world we have."
A deal would create green jobs in developed countries such as the UK and give the developing nations the chance to grow without needing a high-carbon economy.
Citing Winston Churchill, he said: "It is not enough for us to do the least we can get away with when history asks that we demand the most of ourselves.
"As one of the greatest of world leaders warned at a different time of peril, 'it is no use saying we are doing our best'.
"Let us demonstrate a strength of resolve equal to the greatness of our cause.
"And let us prove today and tomorrow the enduring truth that is more telling than any passing setback: that what we can achieve together is far greater than whatever we can achieve unilaterally and alone."
Mr Brown is among a succession of leaders addressing the conference today although US president Barack Obama is not due to arrive until the leaders convene tomorrow.