The head of UN's Environment Programme has told Sky News it is vital that world leaders reach an agreement on climate change at a conference in December.
As the G8 summit began in Italy, Achim Steiner called on rich nations to concentrate their efforts on securing a new, low carbon economy, rather than focusing on narrow, national agendas.
He told Sky's Environment Correspondent, Catherine Jacob: "I'm concerned that there are many at the moment who are not taking the point in time seriously enough.
"We only have 160 days left and if you continue to negotiate on the minutiae, rather than looking at the big elements of what will constitute an acceptable deal for everyone, then you are beginning to risk a unique opportunity."
He added: "The prospect of not reaching a deal in Copenhagen means we have lost the capacity to deal with climate change as a global community."
As well as a 50% cut in global emissions by 2050, humanitarian campaigners say hundreds of billions of pounds will be needed to help developed countries adapt to global warming.
Gordon Brown has already called for rich nations to pledge £60 billion a year to help poorer countries cope, but it's unclear where the funds will come from.
Campaign groups warn that unless the G8 can reach a meaningful agreement on climate change, December's much sought-after global emissions deal could be dead in the water.
Robert Bailey from Oxfam told Sky News Online it would be a "disaster" for the talks if enough money isn't promised ahead of the Copenhagen summit, because developing countries may feel richer nations aren't serious about tackling climate change.
"Most of all, it'll be a disaster for the poorest and most vulnerable in the world who are least responsible for causing climate change."
With last year's food price rises and subsequent shortages in mind, President Obama has called on the G8 to commit $15 billion for agricultural development.
But with the world in the grip of a recession, many now fear G8 leaders may be unwilling to pledge the money needed to kick start a global low carbon economy.
UN Expert Fears Climate Change Deal At Risk
Obama hopes to push through G8 climate deal
Barack Obama is hoping to restore momentum to the search for a global deal on climate change this year when he chairs a meeting of the major economies next week during the G8 summit in Italy.
The American president is hoping that the 17-nation meeting – which will include G8 members and a range of other major economies who produce roughly 80% of world carbon emissions – will sign up to a pledge to prevent world temperatures increasing by more than 2C, the maximum thought permissible before climate change becomes irreversible.
It is the first time that Obama has backed the pledge. He will also travel to Moscow ahead of the G8 to try to bind Russia to a global climate change deal.
The meeting of the leading nations is being held in a former army barracks in the Italian town of L'Aquila. The venue was switched to the town, which was shattered by an earthquake earlier this year, by the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the luxuries of normal world-leader summits will be notably absent.
In what could prove a pivotal meeting on Wednesday at the summit, Obama will use his prestige to pull together the developed and developing countries ahead of a make-or-break UN session in Copenhagen designed to set the future framework on climate change, post 2012.
Obama is said to be willing to take the initiative by dropping long-standing US opposition to the 2C target, according to a draft communique.
A UK official said: "The fact that Obama is chairing this meeting and really wants to make progress shows how far the US has travelled over the past year. We are not expecting the developing countries to sign up to targets at this summit, but we need to start making progress."
In Italy, Gordon Brown is also hoping to sell his ambitious plan, unveiled last week, of a $100bn-per-annum climate change aid programme. Brown is the first world leader to put a figure on the amount of green technological aid the west might need to fund to help developing countries grow sustainably. He is trying to break a diplomatic logjam by proposing the financing package by 2020, much of the figure coming from the private sector.
He hopes the proposals will be a lure for developing countries such as India to commit themselves this year to carbon reduction targets. In a severe blow to those hoping to secure a global deal on climate change, India this week again ruled out committing itself to carbon reduction targets. India is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and its emissions are projected to treble by 2050.
The UN is supposed to agree a post-2012 climate change framework in Copenhagen in December. Obama has already pledged to bring US emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020, meaning Washington will rein in emissions by about 14% from 2005 levels. Legislation was passed by Congress last week. Obama's predecessor, George Bush, acted as a brake on progress at G8 summits, first refusing to accept climate change was man made, and then objecting to specific carbon reduction targets.
Obama and Brown are also hoping to use the G8 summit in Italy to prevent western economies backsliding on their previous commitments to Africa, with the British prime minister said to be spending the weekend priming himself on the aid record of G8 member states and planning to go into the meeting to fight.
Italy has one of the worst records on international aid, and is due to cut its aid budget by 56% next year. Brown is struggling to win support for a bare-minimum proposal that the G8 draw up internal rules to police how its members meet their aid commitments
Italy is especially keen to keep the idea off the agenda, since it will embarrass to Berlusconi. Italy had a commitment to ensure aid represents 0.51% of gross national income by 2010. It is on course to hit 0.1%.
Privately, many western diplomats are in despair at the fact the G8 this year is being hosted by the scandal-ridden Italian president. Many have questioned the continued relevance of the G8, and Berlusconi was forced to concede that his plans for new international financial rules to be agreed at the summit will represent little progress.
Britain is also looking for action at the G8 on the UN commitment to cut maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. The number of maternal deaths is stuck at 500,000 per year, suggesting there has been no progress at all since the target was set in 2000.
guardian.co.uk
Swedish leader plans to use climate change miracle to cut greenhouse gases
Sweden plans to use its “climate change miracle” to convince China and the United States to sign up to tough cuts in greenhouse gases at the Copenhagen summit to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish Prime Minister, said yesterday that his country, which takes over the EU presidency today, would present its own example of 50 per cent economic growth since 1990 combined with a 10 per cent cut in CO2 emissions to try to win over sceptics.
Mr Reinfeldt said that the Copenhagen agreement had to include all the developing countries that were effectively left out by Kyoto if it was to meet the goal of keeping global warming to no more than 2C (3.6F).
He said that Sweden would also try to lead Europe by example into adopting a tough CO2 tax regime based on his own model, which he boasted had the highest rates in the world.
The Swedish presidency has come at the right time to lead the EU into the Copenhagen process after picking up the reins from the Czech Republic under President Klaus, the author of a book on the myth of man-made global warming.
Since 1991 Swedes have paid 20p per litre in carbon tax for petrol, which has helped to cut emissions by 20 per cent, partly by encouraging public transport systems to switch to biogas. “You need to get the right price signals. We introduced a CO2 tax nearly 20 years ago and it is the highest in the world,” Mr Reinfeldt said.
“It puts a price on carbon so consumers feel the cost effect of greenhouse gas and it makes it interesting to look for renewables. I have seen my friends throw out fossil-fuel-based heating and install geothermal, so the carbon tax is very smart and very effective.”
Since the EU has no power to set domestic taxes, Sweden will have to sell its carbon tax to others by example. All of Sweden’s electricity comes from hydroelectric or nuclear power, giving it a 20 per cent rate of renewable energy. “We have put our renewable target at 50 per cent for 2020, so we are preparing for a huge increase in wind power,” he added.
Mr Reinfeldt is braced for tough talks with developing countries already arguing for financial aid from developed countries to go green.
“I came in as Prime Minister in 2006 when everyone was talking about climate change and watching Al Gore’s film,” he said. “It is a much tougher environment now and a lot of countries tend to negotiate as if the outcome should be to get more resources, not more mechanisms to alter the direction of the economy towards a low carbon economy. In Sweden we have shown you can have growth as well as cutting emissions and this is the discussion you have to have with the Chinese, who think we are trying to question their right to growth.”
Sweden has signed an £84 million deal with China to develop wind power. Mr Reinfeldt has also held talks with Gordon Brown on the amount of aid the EU will offer to help the developing world to cut emissions.
Government must secure stronger protection for rainforests say MPs
A committee of MPs has warned that developed countries must change their patterns of consumption in order to prevent deforestation and tackle climate change.
It comes after work by campaigners, including Catholic Aid agency Cafod who supported the visit of a world renowned Brazilian activist. The activist told MPs that the world’s rainforests cannot be put under further pressure from multinational companies or illegal loggers and miners.
An area of forest the size of England is lost each year and deforestation is the third largest source of greenhouse gases globally, producing more emissions than transport.
The Commons environmental audit committee warned today that deforestation remained “a huge threat to the global climate".
Their report, published today (Monday) followed last week's launch of the government's climate change plan.
Ahead of December's global climate change talks in Copenhagen, the committee called on the government to lobby for an agreement to reduce the economic incentives for deforestation.
MPs urged the government to set limits for the demand of the commodities causing deforestation and backed action to protect rainforest communities.
Governments of developed nations were advised to provide a mechanism to pay for reforestation in poorer nations.
The report urged the government to work with the rest of EU to reduce the demand for products causing deforestation, including banning the import of illegal timber.
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, from the Yanomami people in the Amazon and dubbed ‘the Dalai Lama of the Rainforest’ had given a stark warning to MPs that any climate change initiatives would be jeopardised if the rainforests are not protected.
Rainforests are a vital defence in tackling climate change say campaigners. They provide critical ecosystem benefits for the whole world by storing water, regulating rainfall and providing a home to over half the planet’s biodiversity.
Rainforests absorb almost 20 percent of the world’s man-made CO2 emissions every year, while tropical deforestation anually releases an extra 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil lost more than 132,000 square kilometres of forest - an area larger than Greece. At current rates over half the entire Amazon rainforest may be gone in 20 years time.
As the spiritual leader and head of his indigenous community, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, told MPs on 10th June that the world’s rainforests cannot be put under further pressure from multinational companies or illegal loggers and miners.
Dr Mike Edwards, CAFOD’s Climate Change Advisor, said: “We need to listen to people such as Davi who are warning us that our resource consuming behaviour is destroying the ecosystems upon which all life depends. Climate change is a clear indication that we in Western industrialised societies are living beyond the carrying capacity of the Earth. If we choose not to heed Davi’s words, then we will be facing a very bleak future.”
Developing world will need $100bn per year to fight climate change
Rich nations should find around $100bn per year to help developing countries cut carbon emissions, reduce deforestation and fight the effects of climate change that is already occurring, according to the British Prime Minister.
Gordon Brown has said that with the Copenhagen climate talks less than six month away that the UK is determined to see an international agreement that puts the world "on a path to avoiding dangerous climate change."
He told ambassadors, green groups and business organisations gathered in London:
"All countries have to take action, but to help developing countries move to low-carbon and climate-resilient growth we will need a new system of financial support for greener technology, deforestation and adaptation."
He said this support would have to come from the wealthy countries that were historically the big emitters of CO2 and would need to be somewhere in the region of $100bn per year.
Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband launched the Government's Roadmap to Copenhagen strategy, saying it was make or break time for our climate and our future.
With less than six months to go before crunch negotiations in Copenhagen, it's clear that there is no plan B for the planet.
"The world's got no option but to work together to get a global climate deal that's ambitious, effective and fair.
"Our climate manifesto puts the British public in the front and centre of our efforts to get a climate deal.
"For people in Britain, getting a global deal now will mean reducing the risk of devastating future climate impacts and the huge extra costs that would bring. But it will also open the door to big new opportunities to create green jobs and economic prosperity."
Arnold Schwarzenegger backs Scottish climate change laws
FILM star turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger last night backed Scotland's crackdown on pollution.
It came as MSPs unanimously backed a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 in Scotland.
The Terminator star, who is now governor of California, said: "Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution.
"California has set aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets, but we need the help of the world to tackle the most pressing environmental issue of our time.
"Scotland's ambitious and comprehensive targets encourage other nations to step up to the plate as we look toward an international agreement in Copenhagen, and it sends a message to the world that we must act now and must act swiftly."
The Holyrood decision will mean a race towards electric cars, more wind and wave power and a massive programme to insulate Scotland's draughty homes to save energy.
The target will also have an impact on farming, as methane produced by flatulent cows is one of the causes of global warming.
More trees will have to be planted across large swathes of countryside to soak up CO2 and other gases.
The drive will continue for decades, as Scotland tries to meet an even more ambitious long-term target to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
The plan follows dire warnings about changes to Scotland's weather by 2080.
By then, Met Office experts believe warmer, wetter winters will make snow covered mountains a thing of the past.
The new target, set out in Holyrood's climate change Bill, followed a U-turn by the SNP government, who originally wanted a 34 per cent cut.
But they agreed the tougher target under pressure from Labour, Lib Dem and Green MSPs.
Labour environment spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: "The Scottish government's challenge now is to translate this Bill into action and to give leadership to the implementation of the new policies and opportunities."
The targets are based on levels of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990.
They have already come down by 18 per cent since then, so Scotland is already nearly half way towards achieving the new target.
And in the run-up to yesterday's historic debate, campaigners voiced fears the plans were not tough enough.
The ambitious new goal will be downgraded if countries fail to agree new worldwide climate goals at the summit in Copenhagen later this year.
And no formal sanctions will be imposed on ministers if Scotland cannot reach the target by 2020.
But last night campaign group Stop Climate Chaos hailed the move as a "hugely significant example" for other countries to follow.
Chairman Mike Robinson said: "It means Scotland's climate change Bill has the toughest target of any industrialised nation in the world.
"It will be held up as an example, ahead of the climate talks in Copenhagen in December, of what can and should be done."
Richard Dixon, head of the WWF in Scotland, said: "Scotland may be a small nation, but it has proved today that it is prepared to stand up and be counted.
"This new law sets a benchmark that every industrialised country will need to live up to."
More than 100 members of the public were given a chance to lobby constituency MSPs on the new law. One woman come all the way from Ullapool in Wester Ross to attend.
Temperatures could soar by six degrees in the Five Valleys
TEMPERATURES in the Five Valleys and the surrounding area could rise by just over six degrees Celsius over the next 70 years, an alarming new report has revealed.
The study, which was published by the UK Climate Impact Programme last week, looked at the overall effect of climate change for the next century. The nearest location to Stroud for which figures were given was Gloucester.
Experts predict an average temperature increase of 3.9 degrees Celsius in the south west but warns temperatures could reach levels up to 6.4 degrees hotter than today.
Average temperatures in Gloucestershire currently range between five degrees in the winter to 21 degrees in summer.
As a result, experts predict a greater risk of flooding as sea levels are expected to rise by up to 80cm by 2080 and 20 per cent more winter rain could fall in some regions.
Sarah Lunnon, Stroud's newly elected Green county councillor, said: "The biggest issue facing us is not council tax rises or potholes in the road it is climate change.
"The question is do we in Gloucestershire have the will to provide sufficient funding to implement far-sighted reduction and adaptation schemes." Cllr Lunnon also called for climate change to be a bigger priority by increasing funding and efforts to prevent the release of greenhouse gases.
The impact report, which was updated from a 2002 study, predicts that one in six homes will be at risk of flooding in the next 25 years - double the current figures. Stan Waddington, acting lead cabinet member for the environment at Gloucestershire County Council, added: "We are taking climate change very seriously by doing our bit to reduce carbon emissions and taking steps to keep the county safe."
Several schemes are in place to prevent a repeat of the 2007 floods.
Drain and gullies are being cleared and other flood prevention schemes are underway.
