26/08/2009 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A campaign called the ‘New Earth Deal’ is being launched today in London, with the support of PACE’s Environment Committee, to push for a global climate change deal at Copenhagen in which richer countries should do more. PACE’s rapporteur on climate change John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), a former Deputy Prime Minister who took part in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, said developed countries must “carry a greater share of the burden of reducing emissions” because of their historic responsibility for past emissions: “They must now recognise the central principle that the polluter pays.”
The committee is organising a conference in Strasbourg on 29 September, and the campaign will also involve school visits, a social networking website, and showings of the environmental film ‘Age of Stupid’.