Green Tony Blair Suddenly Looking Brown - Tried To Ditch Emissions Targets

[hatrack]

"Tony Blair's international credibility on climate change was seriously damaged last night as it emerged that the government tried secretly to ditch key global warming targets. Leaked documents seen by The Observer reveal that the UK sought to remove targets that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions during high-level meetings to formulate Europe's climate policy.

At the same time the Prime Minister, who has made tackling climate change a central tenet of his presidency of the G8 nations, was publicly stressing the need for a world commitment to reduce global warming. Blair has described climate change as the greatest problem facing mankind. The revelations, which have stunned climatologists, are contained in a leaked draft council text on Europe's long-term strategy. They show that senior government officials attempted to remove a commitment for massive cuts in greenhouse gases by 2050 from a European Union agreement.

The findings will prove damaging to Blair's worldwide standing on the issue as he attempts to coerce countries to take the issue more seriously. Environmentalists last night accused Blair of 'betrayal.' They claim the UK's attempt to drop ambitious emission targets may have been an attempt to persuade the US to join a climate agreement while Blair holds the EU and G8 presidencies.

But rather than trying to strengthen the US commitment to higher targets, it has emerged that the government covertly tried to weaken the European position. Dated 9 December last year, the internal documents reveal that the government tried to have commitments deleted from key European texts at meetings between September and December 2004. However a final meeting that took place shortly before Christmas saw the UK's attempts to lower targets defeated by other member states. On 8 December, Blair's chief scientist, Sir David King, announced that the target to cut carbon dioxide emissions - the principal cause of global warming - by 60 per cent have to be increased to 80 per cent by 2050 because of the extent of melting on the Greenland ice-sheet."

EDIT

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1391593,00.html

[rfkrfk]

1. Compliance with Kyoto, is more important

It is distressing, that the UK appears headed toward
ignoring the mandated numerical limits of the Kyoto treaty.
In addition, I am troubled ... that, {to my knowledge}
no European country has adopted the national laws necessary to
deal with national non-compliance. I guess that such
laws would be either, carbon rights, or authority for
open-ended tax changes.
{note, Europe has some type
carbon trading system in place, I just don't know if this
system has the authority over individuals, to ensure national compliance with Kyoto}
Yuo have st start somewhere. Kyoto, now, is more important
than some number that applies to the year 2050.