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19/10/2009
'Tough Action' On Climate Change: PM
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned that "tough action" is needed on climate change.
Speaking at the Major Economies Forum in London, which was comprised of representatives of 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, Mr Brown stressed that an historic agreement about the future of the planet's climate must be agreed at the Cophenhagen conference in December .
The Prime Minister warned that the there was "no plan B" for the planet and warned of the "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if leaders failed to reach a deal.
He said: "In every era there are only one of two moments when nations come together and reach agreements that make history - because they change the course of history.
Copenhagen must be such a time. There are now fewer than fifty days to set the course of the next fifty years and more. So, as we convene here, we carry great responsibilities and the world is watching.
"If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice. By then, it will be irretrievably too late."
The UN summit in Copenhagen will aim to agree a deal that will replace the 1997 Kyoto Agreement on climate change.
(KMcA/GK)
Speaking at the Major Economies Forum in London, which was comprised of representatives of 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, Mr Brown stressed that an historic agreement about the future of the planet's climate must be agreed at the Cophenhagen conference in December .
The Prime Minister warned that the there was "no plan B" for the planet and warned of the "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if leaders failed to reach a deal.
He said: "In every era there are only one of two moments when nations come together and reach agreements that make history - because they change the course of history.
Copenhagen must be such a time. There are now fewer than fifty days to set the course of the next fifty years and more. So, as we convene here, we carry great responsibilities and the world is watching.
"If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice. By then, it will be irretrievably too late."
The UN summit in Copenhagen will aim to agree a deal that will replace the 1997 Kyoto Agreement on climate change.
(KMcA/GK)
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