18/12/2008 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
18.12.2008 – The Council of Europe has a unique opportunity to take up a global challenge, not its usual vocation of maintaining peace, but that of getting humankind to refocus on its environment, according to John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), speaking during a Paris meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Environment Committee. “Throughout the 20th century, human beings have served the economy, but in the 21st, it is the economy’s turn to serve human beings and the environment,” he said. Mr Prescott proposed that a parliamentary debate be held in 2009 to help generate a political consensus on a fair way of distributing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
“With renegotiation of the Kyoto accords due in 2009, we need to strike a delicate balance, namely to persuade the main greenhouse gas-emitting countries to cut back on emissions, while being fair to developing countries, who need to develop economically and socially,” Mr Prescott said. He called for every European country to make a contribution appropriate to its stage of development: “When emissions limits are set, the main burden should fall on the rich industrialised countries, who bear a greater responsibility and should therefore be expected to do more."