31 July 2006
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have participated in a round table discussion on climate change to highlight areas where California and the UK can work together.
- PM and Schwarzenegger engage on green issues
- Press conference at The BP Facility in Los Angeles
- Business Leaders Final Statement PDF (89.6 kbs)
- UK CA agreement PDF (102 kbs)
Parts of this transcript may have been edited
Read the transcript
Prime Minister:
Thank you all very much indeed for coming along this afternoon and I am delighted to be here with you in order to discuss what is I think long term the single biggest issue that we face. And I would like to thank John for all the work that he has done on this issue, and also to say how delighted I am to be here with Governor Schwarzenegger and to thank him for his leadership on this issue which has been very important and has given a lot of hope to people who want to see this not simply as a Europe versus the US issue.
And I would just like to say a couple of things really. The first is that we know that the answers to this will come in the end by the development of the right science and technology, the question is what are the incentives that are going to lead business, along with government, but business to make the commitment to research and development that is going to give us those solutions. And I think that anything that we do has to have within it: one, market mechanisms to deliver a carbon price; and two, some stabilisation goal that is agreed and agreed internationally. And the reason why I think it is important that we have a framework that is a binding framework is that otherwise I don’t think that business and industry get a clear enough signal.
Now the second thing I want to say however is this. This is something that can’t be done just by government doing it, and what I tried to start at the G8 last year was, what I wanted was, a better process that gave us the chance when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 of an international agreement that includes all the main players. And so we formed the G8+5 meeting, which is the G8 countries plus China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, in order to make sure that any deal or framework that we get is going to draw in all the main emitters. And as the Chinese economy grows, and as you probably know I think China, I can’t remember what the statistic is, is building something like one power station, if it is not a week, it is every two weeks, but anyway it is something sufficiently shocking, to give you a sense that this is an area where frankly yes we have to develop the science and technology, but we also have to do that within a framework internationally where everyone is part of the picture. Otherwise there will I think be real practical difficulties in getting the political agreement that we need. So I think we need a binding framework, we need it to incorporate all the main countries in the world.
And the last point is really this, that we need not just your commitment, we also need your expertise and your sense of what it is you want us to do in order to help you do what you would like to do as responsible businesses. Because I think there are tremendous opportunities for business in environmental technology and in sustainable development, but how you get the right leverage for those is a matter that we can effect well or indeed badly.
And that is the reason why I wanted to have this talk with you guys today, and what we need to know from you is, what is it that we should be doing in government to get that right framework that is going to mean that you will be wanting to put the investment in and development in an environmentally beneficial way?
So anyway thank you very, very much indeed for coming along today. I think that is all I need to say by way of introduction, and I think it is my turn to hand over to you rather than the other way round.
Governor Schwarzenegger:
Thank you very much Prime Minister, and it is great to be here today, first of all because you are here, it is wonderful, and also great to be here with so many business leaders that all believe very strongly they are committed to fighting global warming. And I want to thank the Climate Group, which is a London-based group that California belongs to, for the great organisation for organising this and also for the great work that they are doing worldwide on global warming. And I want to thank also BP for hosting us here, for being such great leaders on this very important issue, and I want to thank all the board for the great work that you are doing.
And I am particularly excited about this round table discussion because I think it is always great when the private sector and government work together and talk because we are living proof that you can do both, absolutely you can protect the environment and also make sure that the economy grows without any problems. We have shown that here in California by taking care of the environment in the last two and a half years, and having great economic growth. I always say where there is a will there is a way.
And the truth is also that we really have no choice. Global warming, if we really want to hand over to our next generation, our children and grandchildren, a better world then we have to do everything we can. And you know it can be done both with economic growth and also taking care of the environment.
On the political side of the equation I think there is no better leader and no better Ambassador on global warming than Prime Minister Tony Blair. I think that you have been absolutely fantastic. The Prime Minister has been a worldwide force on this issue, we all know that, since he has taken office in 1997, that is why he is still a great inspiration to me personally and to our state to move forward, to go in the right direction. He has done as much as anyone to focus attention on what we both believe is one of the world’s most pressing challenges.
In California we are waiting for the Federal government because as you know we are moving forward …[INAUDIBLE]…the state level up through Washington, and it is in many, many issues, and I think we have got to do the same thing with this one. We have got to move forward and create actions here in California. So in April my Climate Action team issued a report based on six months of studies and hearings and we are working with the legislators and with Speaker Nunes, who is here with us today and I am very happy that you could come down from Sacramento with your busy schedule, but we are working together in a bipartisan way to implement all those recommendations which have been moved forward and to do something similar that England has been doing. We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 level by the year 2020 and we will reduce another 80% by the year 2050, and we intend to do this using market-based mechanisms that won’t harm the economy, because I want to do everything I can not to harm the economy by doing that, by taking care of the environment.
But as you all know, we can’t have a healthy economy without having a healthy environment, and I believe wholeheartedly that the new green technologies and environmental friendly practices that you all are using and pioneering will grow our economy rather than hinder our economy. Just one example, the California Climate Change Centre said that our climate change cause can actually add $60 billion to our economy and 20,000 more jobs, and your companies are great examples of that and I think that some of them are sitting right here round this table, whether it is BP and Edison International’s billion dollar hydrogen fuelling power plant in Carson, which we love, or Goldman Sachs’ $1.5 billion investment in renewable energy, or Safeway’s use of wind energy, or …[INAUDIBLE]…, these are all very impressive markets for businesses everywhere.
We have just today released by the way a great report on climate change and it is a must read, so if you get a chance, get a hold of that, and I think it is very important also for the press to get that information out of here.
We continue to help in our leadership, we will show everyone that our people can prosper, even as we safeguard our spectacular environment, and we do have a spectacular environment. We all know of California’s amazing contributions to the world and we all know that California has contributed a lot to the world, we are known for our leadership in science and we are very innovative and imaginative. I think that protecting the environment may be the most lasting and important contribution of all.
So thank you very much Prime Minister for being here, and thank you all for being here today.
delicious
digg
facebook
