25/11/2010 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 25.11.2010 – Lord Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s rapporteur on climate change, has called on the nations of the world to agree on basic principles for fighting climate change voluntarily – as he believes no legally-binding agreement can emerge from next week’s UN talks in Cancun.
“The legal framework is falling apart. Let us be practical, recognise that it has happened, and go for an alternative,” said Mr Prescott, who as British Deputy Prime Minister played a key role in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord on behalf of the EU.
“Each country is still trying to cut carbon emissions in its own way – the US has a programme, the EU has a programme, China has a programme. Let each of them go ahead voluntarily, as envisaged in the Copenhagen accord, but let’s at least agree on a few basics of fairness and transparency. It is possible to have carbon emissions targets within a credible national framework.”
One critical principle is that targets should be expressed “per head of population”, Lord Prescott said. There should be agreement on a universally-applied international verification mechanism to ensure countries live up to their own pledges, and rich nations should provide funds for poorer ones to adapt to low-carbon growth. In the meantime, he added, the world should agree to “stop the clock” on the existing Kyoto agreement, which ends in 2012, to allow time to build trust and negotiate the details of a long-term agreement. The Copenhagen accord should be implemented in this transition period.
“There will be no grand legal agreement next week – as we had at Kyoto – but let’s do our best to make some real and realistic steps for mankind. We need a common sense approach that will keep us moving towards a sustainable, safe, clean and healthy planet for our children and our children’s children.”
Lord Prescott will lead a three-member PACE delegation – along with Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC) and Elsa Papadimitriou (Greece, EPP/CD) – attending a 6 December parliamentary meeting, organised by the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), taking place on the occasion of the main climate change conference.