7 June 2007
The Prime Minister welcomed an agreement at the G8 summit on how to tackle climate change and global warming.
- PM hails climate change agreement
- G8 not just about climate change - PM
- Doorstep in Heiligendamm
- Doorstep with President Bush
- PM’s statement in Heiligendamm
Parts of this transcript may have been edited
Read the transcript
Question:
You heard what President Bush said there, is it possible do you think that he will leave this summit agreeing to the target that you want him to agree?
Prime Minister:
Well let me try and explain, because it is very important that people follow the ins and outs of this. The problem with the Kyoto Treaty was that it did not have a long term goal for the reduction of emissions that was agreed by everybody, that is America, China, India, everybody. The American position is, and always has been, that they will not agree to something that does not have China and India in it. However this is what I think are the key issues now. What we need to do is we need to agree that there should be a new treaty, that it should be concluded by 2009, that the treaty should have at the heart of it a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, that the agreement should include America, China, India, everyone, and that the type of target we are talking about in terms of a substantial reduction in emissions is of the order of what the Europeans and others have put forward, namely the halving of emissions. So that is what we are trying to get to.
Now the issue that I think is very important for people to understand is this. The question is not to conclude a new agreement at this summit, the new agreement can only come out of a process that involves not just the G8 people, but the Plus 5 as well. The question is however, is there a commitment here to make sure that that process results in a global target for the reduction of emissions of the order of 50% in circumstances where everybody is going to be agreed to that, so you have got America, and China and India in the deal?
Now I think it is possible to do it. Obviously there is still talking going on but I think there is a substantial coming together. I really believe that America has moved a long way on this. And I think the other thing that is really important to emphasise is this. The problem with the Kyoto Treaty, quite apart from the fact that in the end it didn’t have such a goal with the countries all in it, the problem is it is true that the previous American President agreed to Kyoto but it was rejected by the American Senate by 98 votes to nothing. The important thing if we can get an agreement, a fresh agreement, is that I think President Bush is in a position where he could then take that through Congress. In other words it could be an agreement that actually works, so that is what is at stake here.
Question:
But George Bush isn’t going to set his own target for the US, is he? He is not going to come back and say this is a target that we the US must stick to, he is interested in an international target?
Prime Minister:
No, no, he is interested in national targets underneath that too.
Question:
But set by his own government.
Prime Minister:
Well once you set a global target then you have then got to agree how it is going to be implemented. That requires, you know the Europeans for example have set up the Emissions Trading System, America will take certain action, other people will take certain action. So the way that this will work is that in the end you will have in different parts of the world action being taken. But you have got to have means for linking this up so that we reach the overall global target. Now there are really complicated technical questions in all of this that are going to take some time to work through and there is no harm in being very open about that. I think what is really important about the last couple of weeks is that for the first time America is saying we want a deal that we are in, with a substantial reduction in emissions and we are going to be part of that, and what is more it is going to happen by 2009. Well let’s hope.
Question:
The depressing thing is that he was saying that we are doing it already, we don’t need external targets and anyway technology will do it anyway.
Prime Minister:
Well he is right in saying the ultimate answer to this is science and technology. That is not the issue, the issue is what is the system of incentivisation to develop that science and technology. But he is not saying we are doing it all already.
Question:
But he doesn’t see a global target as an incentive. He says it is not our incentive, we haven’t had one and we have reduced our greenhouse gases this year alone, we didn’t need an international target, we did. Is that what you are saying?
Prime Minister:
I don’t think he is saying that. I think what he is saying is it is not true that America has done nothing so far, it is not true that we are not taking this seriously as an issue. What he is saying that is different is we are prepared to be part of a global deal also. Now as I say, once you agree the principles of that global deal there is an immense amount of work to be done. This can’t be negotiated at the G8, the detail of this, it has got to be negotiated through the process that he has set out, which is effectively like the Gleneagles process that we established where you have got the main emitters and then it has got to feed into the UN process which gives you the ultimate deal.
Question:
Can I just be really clear about what you are saying? You think it is still possible that you will leave this summit with a communiqué that commits everyone here to the aim of a 50% reduction as part of a kick-start for going on to a global agreement?
Prime Minister:
I think it is possible that we leave this summit, I am not saying this will happen but I think it is possible, that we leave this summit with a commitment on the part of everyone to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as a global target and that is of the order of the type of figures the Europeans have been talking about. What you won’t get, and there never was any question of this, is an agreement here and now amongst the G8 Plus 5 that it is the 50%. But what is important is to get an agreement that there should be such a target and that that is the sort of ballpark we are talking about. Do you see what I mean? And that is the important thing. Now there is still obviously a certain amount of discussion going on about that.
Question:
On aid, is the commitment for retrovirals for 10 million being watered down? Reports are saying 5 million rather than 10 million.
Prime Minister:
I will get you a line on that. Not that I am aware of, but I will check that out.
Question:
Did you feel nostalgic at all at standing next to the President for the last time, sad, happy?
Prime Minister:
Actually to be absolutely frank at the moment I am so into the difference between various linking systems of emission trading that I haven’t the time to feel nostalgic or anything else at the moment.
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