last time I checked "Parade Magazine" wasn't a very credible publication -- it shows up in your average local newspaper...Trust but verify...Lets see if we see any articles in The Washington Post, The New York Times, or in The Economist magazine that effectively debunk the contention that Global Warming is a danger that we must deal with...Our close ally Tony Blair from Britain feels that Global Warming must be taken seriously...we must lead by example and I hope Mr. Bush is up to the task...
news.ft.com
Beckett fears missing global warming target
By Jean Eaglesham and Fiona Harvey
The Financial Times
Published: December 8 2004 02:00
Labour will miss its main manifesto target on global warming unless the government takes more radical action, the environment secretary has admitted, in apparent contradiction of a recent assertion by Tony Blair.
Margaret Beckett said yesterday that Britain appeared to be "not presently on track" to meet the government's target for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by 2010.
She signalled that industry could face much tougher curbs on such emissions to address this problem under a third-term Labour government.
"I wouldn't say open secret, but it's well understood that unfortunately we're not doing as well on that [20 per cent target] as we would like to be," the environment secretary told the Financial Times.
Mrs Beckett's admission could cast a pall over the high-profile launch today of the government's latest global warming initiative. The prime minister is spearheading the launch by Mrs Beckett and two other cabinet ministers of a review of the government's policies on climate change.
Mr Blair has admitted that his ambitions of achieving progress on climate change during Britain's G8 presidency next year could rest on demonstrating effective action in the UK.
"To acquire global leadership on this issue, Britain must demonstrate it first at home," the prime minister said this year. He insisted last month that climate change was "a priority for us and we are meeting our targets in Britain".
But Mrs Beckett said the only target currently being met was the relatively undemanding one set by the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent by 2008. The environment secretary signalled new policies were needed to meet the "more stringent domestic target" of cutting carbon emissions by 20 per cent. The second phase of a new European-wide scheme for emissions trading - which will take effect in 2008 - could be used to help meet the target, she suggested.
"If it is the case, as it appears, that we're not presently on track for the 20 per cent, then we've some ideas but we want to hear from other people as to what are the things we can do to help us get back on track," Mrs Beckett said. "Things like phase two have potentially quite a role to play."
A hardline approach to industry emissions would elicit a fierce reaction from business. Industry groups have complained about the curbs being imposed under the first phase of the European scheme, despite a recent government agreement to ask the European Commission for a higher overall allowance. John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, yesterday accused the government of doing "little to place any of the burden [of tackling climate change] on consumers. So far it has been business that has taken the pain".
Such lobbying may not be sufficient to avert a ratcheting up of this business pain, however. "We always try to reach as much common ground with the CBI, indeed with any industry group, as we can. But in the end government has to take the right balance of decisions," Mrs Beckett said. "For British business to succeed in the long term, we have to be taking on board the potential implications of climate change."
On the international front, Mrs Beckett refused to concede that the Bush administration's environmental stance would frustrate the prime minister's G8 ambitions. The US - the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases - has refused to sign the Kyoto protocol.
But the environment secretary insisted there was now "quite a lot happening on the ground in the US". Mr Blair had been talking to the US president about climate change for "a long time ... The Bush administration is well aware of the fact that this is a very big issue for us, one to which we attach great importance". |
