13/12/2010 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
, 13.12.2010 – Lord Prescott (, SOC), the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s rapporteur on climate change, has welcomed the package of decisions agreed at the UN global climate change talks in Cancún, describing them as “a small but important step for mankind”.
Mr Prescott, who played a key role in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord on behalf of the EU, attended the talks along with Alan Meale (, SOC). He said the deal strengthened the voluntary framework for reducing CO2 emissions agreed at , created a universal monitoring system for nations to verify each others’ emission cuts, and put more money on the table to help developing countries deal with climate change.
“After the dashed hopes of , the show is back on the road. Everyone agrees on the principle of cutting emissions voluntarily, and allowing others to verify the delivery. What’s more, the richer countries have promised more help to the poorer ones. This is a small but important step for mankind towards a fairer sustainable future.”
These were all steps PACE had called for in its 2009 resolution on climate change issued ahead of the summit, he pointed out. In a statement made on the eve of the Cancún talks, the PACE rapporteur had already acknowledged that a legal framework for emissions cuts was no longer possible and called for voluntary targets.
Mr Prescott also called on the parties to keep up the momentum at the next UN global climate meeting in in November 2011: “At , countries need to go the extra mile and reach a legal agreement on a new framework beyond 2012.”
Lord Prescott pledged that he and the PACE Environment Committee would continue to closely follow the climate change negotiations. At present in , he said he has already opened up a dialogue with the South African authorities ahead of the summit.