John Prescott, the rapporteur on climate change of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), has called on the leaders of the United States, China and India to personally take part in the Copenhagen climate change conference in December.

Mr Prescott, a former British Deputy Prime Minister who played a key role in negotiating the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, said: “These talks are vital for the future of the planet. These three countries can make the difference between success and failure.

“It is vital that their leaders are there, alongside the 60 other presidents and prime ministers who have already said they are coming.”

He was speaking at a meeting of PACE’s Environment Committee in Paris.

Mr Prescott has asked the President of the Parliamentary Assembly Lluis Maria de Puig to make a personal appeal to US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, inviting them to attend.

He added: “This could be settled, as at Kyoto, by political leaders in a last-minute deal on the principles and a road map, for finalizing by the COP. We need the three most important ones to be there.”

In a September resolution, the Assembly – representing 47 parliaments across greater Europe – called on developed countries, which are responsible for most past carbon dioxide emissions, to take the lead at Copenhagen by agreeing to “deep and early cuts” in greenhouse gases.

Short clip on a vist to the Kentish Flats offshore windfarm off the Kent Coast.

Andrew Dever, Ops Manager for Vestas, talks about the 30 turbines and how they can help to power upto 100,000 homes.

To find out more go to www.embracewind.com

Kyoto Treaty negotiator John Prescott at the Council of Europe’s Climate Change Conference on the need for a fair deal for the developing world at the UN Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen.
In this clip highlights the case from the environmental ‘The Age of Stupid.’
To find out more go to www.newearthdeal.org

Prescott – EU proposal on Climate Change is ‘not enough’

Former Kyoto Protocol negotiator for the EU John Prescott has called on developed countries to do much more to put equity and social justice at the heart of a deal at Copenhagen.

He described the current proposal by the EU to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% – or 30% if there’s a global deal – by 2020 and 80% by 2050 as a ‘rich nations plan.’

Mr Prescott, who is Rapporteur for Climate Change to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is calling for any deal to be based on emissions per person or per capita.

He told the assembly that included Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the Chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, at PACE’s Climate Change conference in Strasbourg today:

“It is not enough to simply develop the rich nations plan – the EU proposal – where emission cuts are between 20% and 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 and only proposes ‘unspecified’ funds to assist in mitigation of the quality of economic growth needed in developing countries to reduce their mass poverty and increase prosperity.

“To reduce global emissions to limit the increase in global temperature to 2oC above 1990 levels is tantamount to reducing economic growth, especially from a high carbon model to a carbon model.

“The EU proposal, or Plan A, does not address the per capita principle – emissions per person. The US emits 20 tons of CO2 per person a year, compared to 10 tons for EU countries, 5 tons in China, 2 in India and less than 1 in some parts of Africa.

“A simple equation of population and equity demands that we go down from an average of 4 tons to 2 tons per person.

“So frankly the EU proposal is welcome as far as it goes but it is not a deal maker. Nor does it offer either the funds to help the developing world or the emissions cuts that is fair to the very people most at risk from the immediate effects of climate change.

“The New Earth Deal that we outline in our report places equity and social justice at the very heart of a Copenhagen agreement.

“We highlight that the principle that should apply is that of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.’

Mr Prescott’s New Earth Deal proposal was submitted in a draft resolution to the Parliamentary Assembly.

It calls on all countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to:

“..agree on two long-term objectives in the post-Kyoto negotiations: respect for social equity and respect for equity in energy and resource consumption Under the assumption that equal GHG emissions per capita should be set as targets for all countries by 2050 (at a level of 2tons CO2 equivalent per capita), the developed countries will have to take a strong lead to initiate deep and early cuts in GHG emissions. They must demonstrate that a low carbon economy is possible and affordable.”

The resolution also calls on the right to ‘live in a healthy and viable environment’ should be enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

Mr Prescott last week embarked on a UK tour of schools delivering a presentation on climate change, Kyoto and Copenhagen as part of UN Climate Week. The presentation included a clip from the environmental movie ‘Age of Stupid.’

The film is being shown in the Council of Europe’s cinema throughout the conference for delegates.

Mr Prescott added: “It is indeed fitting that in the year of the 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe we should discuss the threat to global security posed by climate change.

“It’s an entirely different type of threat than the threat to ‘peace and security’ and human rights that the Council of Europe was established to deal with.

“However it is a threat to individual security – human rights and quality of life as we know today – and extends to a global threat and a global challenge which involves every nation on our planet.”

Kyoto EU Negotiator John Prescott and Chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra Pachauri at the Council of Europe’s Climate Change Conference in Strasbourg, France.

They discuss the need for a fair deal at Copenhagen and the Council of Europe’s New Earth Deal that calls for a global agreement on climate change based on emissions per person.

The right to ‘live in a healthy and viable environment’ should be enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

PACE’s Rapporteur on Climate Change, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto Protocol negotiator John Prescott is backing the call as part of its New Earth Deal campaign to secure a fairer deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

Mr Prescott, who today begins a UK tour of schools at the Globe Academy in Southwark, London delivering a presentation on climate change, Kyoto and Copenhagen as part of UN Climate Week, said:

“In 1949, the Council of Europe drew up the European Convention of Human Rights to ensure that we never again had to endure a global war.

“60 years on, the global threat isn’t from war but from climate change.

“That’s why we propose drafting a new Protocol to the Convention, enshrining the right to a healthy and viable environment as a fundamental human right.”

PACE will recommend the proposal at its Road to Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in Strasbourg, France on Sept 29th as well as calling on the Council of Europe to adopt climate change as one of its core priorities and explore the linkages between climate change and human rights in Europe.

PACE will also call for an ambitious binding global agreement with a clear vision for a future low carbon world – based on more social and environmental equity and recommend that Council of Europe member states and observer states negotiate an integrated package of measures.

Mr Prescott added: “We believe that any deal negotiated must consider the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

“That means that social justice and the reduction of poverty must be at the very heart of any agreement. It also means equalising greenhouse gas emissions per head in each country.

“The climate change we’re experiencing across the world has been caused by the richer developed countries. They must now recognise the central principle that the polluter pays.”

The schools, which are being visited as part of Mr Prescott’s New Earth Deal campaign over the next three days, are:

Globe Academy, London, Pudsey Grangefield, Pudsey, nr Leeds, Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury, Manchester and Yardley’s School, Birmingham.

PACE has partnered with the environmental movie ‘Age of Stupid’ allowing access to use clips from the film in Mr Prescott’s school presentation and on its website.

The UK school tour will be launched on September 21st in London by one the Age of Stupid’s stars, windfarm developer and environmental activist, Piers Guy. His battle against nimbys (‘not in my back yard’ campaigners) opposing his windfarm development in Bedford, England will feature in the presentation.

Age of Stupid Director and founder of 10:10, Franny Armstrong said:

“Everyone at Team Stupid is delighted to join forces with John Prescott as he heads in to schools up and down the country.”

John Prescott MP, the Climate Change Rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Xiamen, China talking about how even toilets can harm the environment.

John Prescott meeting students at Chongqing University

In the prestigious Nanqiang Lecture at Xiamen University in China – where he today (Wednesday Sept 9) becomes an honorary professor – Mr Prescott, who is the Rapporteur for Climate Change for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will say:

- The current EU proposals may not be enough to get China, India and the developing countries on board;

- A successful deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen must be judged on per capita emissions;

- There must be tight regulation and discarding of the old economic growth model fuelled by high carbon and non-renewable energy sources;

- Social justice and the reduction of poverty in the developing countries must be at the heart of any deal;

- Britain can help countries like China make the transition to a low carbon economy.

Mr Prescott, who is leading PACE’s ‘New Earth Deal’ campaign for a fairer climate change deal at Copenhagen, says in the speech:

“At the UN COP15 Conference at Copenhagen, negotiators from the Parties of the Convention will discuss a series of agreements which will either supplement, amend or continue the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

“These agreements will cover a number of issues. My own preference would be to create a Kyoto 2 which could be ratified by a significant number of the 184 nations which currently support the existing Kyoto agreement.

“There is also a general acceptance of the required CO2 levels needed to reduce climate change damage. In order to keep the average global temperature increase below 2˚C, an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 will be required.

“This will place a global ceiling on carbon emission outputs. The present level of CO2 output is 425 parts per million (ppm) and is growing each year, meaning that by 2050 it will be over 475 ppm.

“The EU formula recommends a ceiling of 450 ppm. Whilst Sir Nicholas Stern (Now Lord Stern) said that it is possible to work to 550 ppm although this would be dangerous as it may exceed the 2 degrees centigrade forecast increase.

“However, other economists in the EU say that the 450/550 ppm level would be too expensive to implement and that a 600 ppm level by 2050 would be more reasonable but would increase the risk of a higher global temperature.

“This has led to some developing countries demanding that emissions targets for developed countries should be set at 40% in 2020 and 90% by 2050. The IPCC estimates that an 80-85% reduction is necessary by 2050.

“A carbon ceiling with targets will ration economic development in one form or the other. The EU deal of carbon targets of 20% – 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 could be disadvantageous to the growth of developing countries and the need for a consensus. Consequently, carbon targets set for countries must reflect their respective capabilities to grow and their timetables for their peaks in carbon outputs

“These global and national CO2 limits will inevitably threaten the old model of high carbon intensive economic growth which produced many of the problems that we face today, largely as a result of the growth of the wealthier developed countries.

“The increase of global economic and population growth and differing levels of development will intensify the pressures for increases in CO2 levels nationally or regionally.

“Developing countries quite rightly want to meet the demands for greater prosperity, more jobs and the reduction of poverty in their countries which is related to the role of economic growth which is always higher in the early stages of industrial development.

“A climate change agreement which challenges the normal rate of economic growth will require a universal consensus. One that recognises the character and quality of economic growth, together with social justice and equity on a scale not witnessed in international agreements before.

“It is no longer possible for the operation of free market conditions and competition to dominate free and uninhibited growth outside of a form of regulated freedom.

“The present global financial crisis caused by the major wealthier nations is contrasted visibly with the performance of the Chinese banks which played a much more sustainable and regulatory role in finance, as in the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s and again in the 2009 banking crisis.

“It is no longer possible, or indeed globally beneficial, that a few strong and rich countries can dictate the global conditions for finance, trade and food production. It is clear that regulatory changes are required in order to secure global sustainable growth and prosperity.

“Global solutions in this new century will require a global consensus with equitable policies, although not necessarily equally applied. The principle of common but differential responsibilities and respective capabilities should be at the heart of a Kyoto 2 Copenhagen agreement.

“Global solutions for the global problems of climate change are fully accepted by all. Failure would be calamitous for all nations but more so for the developing countries presently hit hardest by the global financial and trade problems.

“To secure the global consensus, due recognition of the needs of developing countries to secure economic growth and prosperity is required. These countries embrace the people on this planet suffering the greatest poverty and deprivation. Fairness and social justice demands that this issue be at the heart of any agreement.

“It will be difficult to find a universal consensus based on the EU proposals in its current form. Its commitment to a climate change formula of targets, global temperatures and carbon emissions along with global market and carbon pricing will need considerable negotiations on which I wish them well.

“However, the EU’s failure so far to commit the funding necessary for the developing countries’ transition is a matter of major concern. Its carbon emissions targets are felt by some to be insufficient.

“The United States, Australia and Canada have average emissions of 20 tonnes per capita. The EU and Japan, 10 and 12 tonnes per capita. China is 5 tonnes per capita, India 2 tonnes and North Africa less than 1 tonne.

“If one is to take into account per capita the figures this clearly illustrates the difference in prosperity between rich and poor nations which is almost exclusively a North/South split. The difference is considerable and inevitably must mean that to ensure any fairness in the approach to curtailing the use of CO2, per capita measurements must be at the heart of any agreement.

“Economic growth should be more equal in all parts of the country with less environmental damage, but whilst also continuing to reduce the levels of severe poverty. In China, the number of people living on less than 1 dollar a day has been reduced by 300 to 400 million people.

“More than a third of the people on this planet, 2.6 billion, live on less than 2 dollars a day according to the World Bank. Social justice requires the continued reduction of such levels of poverty to be a key part of the criteria in any final Copenhagen agreement.

“In the UK, we made many mistakes during our industrial growth, with the production of high levels of pollution and polluted cities. We have learnt from our mistakes and have worked hard over the last decade to make our cities greener, safer and more sustainable, moving towards a low carbon economy.

“Hopefully developing countries such as China and others can use the experience we have gained so as not to make the same mistakes as early industrialised nations did with the climatic consequences we are now witnessing.

“By cooperating on other technological developments, such as clean coal technologies, carbon capture and storage, developing countries and developed countries can work together towards securing a more sustainable and low carbon economic growth in the future.

“Bilateral developments in the exchange of investment research between developing and developed countries will be a crucial aspect of technology finance transfers in order to achieve a more even growth in the global economy to the benefit of its citizens.

“Many of the measures under active discussion at Copenhagen are present in my concept of a Plan B. What I am attempting to do is add an element of justice and fairness into its outcome. We need to think realistically about what might happen at the negotiating table in Copenhagen, not what we would like to happen. We also need to think about the political realities that some of the major players face domestically.

“That will require us to consider a plan that essentially means that developed countries will have the greatest burden to carry in measures required to tackle the climate change problem that they are responsible for.

“The essential principles that must be acknowledged in any future agreement are that it must be universally applied to all countries, that it must recognise the different rates of growth for each country requiring transition policies that reflect this.

“It must involve targets for all and a criteria that recognises poverty and the right to industrial development developing countries.

“And yes, that will mean that developing countries will emit more than they do now. Though mitigation plans will reduce carbon outputs.

“It will require accountability and transparency in the transition plans and appropriate funds in order to allow the development mechanisms to assist developing countries to move to a lower carbon model of growth.

“It will also need to essentially recognise that the richer countries must carry the greater financial responsibility for the problem they have created.

“It may be that all the detail will not be agreed in Copenhagen in December. That we don’t dot the i’s and cross the t’s. But there are a couple of years for that to be achieved. Though its principles and framework needs to be agreed at Copenhagen similar to the Bali action plan.

“Yes we need to be ambitious; but we also need to be realistic. But what should not be up for question are the principles:

that there are common principles agreed by all

that equality is at the core of those principles

and that, therefore, requires agreement to per capita as its direction of intent which in turn leads to a solution that has, at its very heart, social justice

“We know that history has taught us that in the 19th century nations learnt to produce on a massive scale.

“In the 20th century, nations learnt to consume on a massive scale.

“And in the 21st century, we are going to have to learn to sustain on a massive scale.

“The world faces two major challenges – securing a reduction in mass poverty and managing climate change.

“They are interdependent and Copenhagen will be judged upon them.”

Mr Prescott will also visit the schools during UN Climate Week and deliver a presentation on the need to get a fair deal at Copenhagen in December.

The schools, which are being visited as part of Mr Prescott’s New Earth Deal campaign, are:

Globe Academy, London – Monday September 21st 9am
Pudsey Grangefield, Pudsey, nr Leeds – Tuesday September 22nd 9am
Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury, Manchester – Tuesday September 22nd 2pm
Yardley’s School, Birmingham – Wednesday September 23rd 9am

The New Earth Deal campaign also includes:

· The Road to Copenhagen Climate Change Conference held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France in September attended by politicians and environmentalists from more than 60 developed and developing nations.
It will be opened by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chair Rajendra Pachauri and feature a contribution from Vice President Al Gore

· A social networking website www.newearthdeal.org where people can learn about the issues, follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook, do their own climate change deal and have it automatically sent to their Council of Europe politician and national environment minister.

The PACE Environment Committee has also partnered with the environmental movie ‘Age of Stupid’ allowing access to use clips from the film in its school presentations and on its website.

The UK school tour will be launched on September 21st in London by one the Age of Stupid’s stars, windfarm developer and environmental activist, Piers Guy. His battle against nimbys (‘not in my back yard’ campaigners) opposing his windfarm development in Bedford, England will feature in the presentation.

Ends

For interview bids with Mr Prescott in China please contact Victoria Roberts at victoria@game-changer.co.uk or telephone 0203 393 7390 & mobile 07971 688972

Notes to Editors

• The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg (France), now covers virtually the entire European continent, with its 47 member countries. Founded on 5 May 1949 by 10 countries, the Council of Europe seeks to develop throughout Europe common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.

• The Road to Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will be held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France from September 27-30.

• The first phase of the UK New Earth School Tour will launch on September 21st and visit London, Leeds. Manchester and Birmingham.

• The Age of Stupid is the new four-year epic from McLibel director Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? It received its global premiere in the US on September 21st. You can find out more at www.ageofstupid.net

The Environment Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today announced details of its ‘New Earth Deal’ School Tour.

PACE’s Rapporteur on Climate Change, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto Protocol negotiator John Prescott, will visit the following schools during UN Climate Week and deliver a presentation on the need to get a fair deal at Copenhagen as part of his ‘New Earth Deal’ campaign.

The schools are:

Globe Academy, London – Monday September 21st 9am
Pudsey Grangefield, Pudsey, nr Leeds – Tuesday September 22nd 9am
Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury, Manchester – Tuesday September 22nd 2pm
Yardley’s School, Birmingham – Wednesday September 23rd 9am

Mr Prescott said: “I’m really looking forward to talking with the pupils about climate change and gauging their views on what deal we need at Copenhagen.

“They’re the ones who’ll have to live with the consequences if we don’t get that deal. They’ll also be the ones who are going to have to help the world move to a low carbon economy.

“That’s why I’ll be delivering this presentation about the main issues surrounding the deal and why I think it needs to be fair to the developing world, with social justice and poverty reduction at its very heart.”

The New Earth Deal campaign also includes:

The PACE Environment Committee has also partnered with the environmental movie ‘Age of Stupid’ allowing access to use clips from the film in its school presentations and on its website.

The UK school tour will be launched by one the Age of Stupid’s stars, windfarm developer and environmental activist, Piers Guy. His battle against nimbys (‘not in my back yard’ campaigners) opposing his windfarm development in Bedford, England will feature in the presentation.

Mr Guy said: “Copenhagen must agree a far reaching global concordat otherwise we will stay on track for dangerous climate change. New Earth Deal is the kind of grass roots campaign needed to maintain pressure on world leaders to implement a new and effective international settlement to cut greenhouse gas emissions to an acceptable level.

“Wind power has a vital role in cutting carbon emissions and so Copenhagen needs to have the practical effect of ensuring that good wind farms get built quickly; unfortunately this is not yet the norm in the UK.”

The Chair of the PACE Environment Committee, UK MP Alan Meale, who organised the conference, said: “Climate Change is the greatest threat to security in the world today. The Council of Europe is pleased to be at the forefront of this Pan European campaign to secure agreement at Copenhagen.”

Ends

For interview bids or photos and to confirm attendance at any of the school presentations, please contact Victoria Roberts at victoria@game-changer.co.uk or telephone 0203 393 7390 & mobile 07971 688972

Notes to Editors

Jonathan Watts, Asia Environment Correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 September 2009 17.57 BST

With the world’s population growing to nine billion by 2050, the Britain’s former deputy PM predicts far more crucial and complex talks in Copenhagen than in Kyoto

John Prescott, the former UK climate negotiator, called on developed nations today to accept a new model of economic growth that would create a more equitable spread of carbon emissions in the world. Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, Prescott said talks at Copenhagen would probably not be decided until an 11th-hour crisis, but that no global consensus could be reached without a fairer spread of emissions.

Since helping to bang heads together to set the first targets on carbon in Kyoto in 1997, Prescott said the world had started to develop a new model of restraint.

“The reality is that the world has found a rationing process. It is not … get growth as fast as you can and get the jobs and sod the rest,” he said. “The world will have 9 billion people by 2050. If you still want growth and prosperity, do you keep on the model you have now? It’s immoral.”

Prescott has no say in the final decision this time but will attend the talks in Copenhagen as a rapporteur for the Council of Europe, allowing him to be a vocal observer. His remarks address a core issue: how to allow developing nations such as China and India to grow their economies and lift billions from poverty without generating enormous greenhouse gas emissions, as past growth in the developed world did.

But his experience as a former deputy prime minister and key figure in the Kyoto talks sheds light on some of the problems that are likely to lie ahead of negotiators in Denmark in December.

He said Kyoto was about setting a framework, whereas Copenhagen is an attempt to get every country involved. Although the US and China are now far more involved and the science is more widely accepted this time, he believed negotiations will be “10 times harder” than those of 1997 because more countries are taking part and the issues are more complex.

A deal will depend on a last minute display of political will, he predicted.

“The deal at Kyoto came when politicians sat down and faced the reality that we were we going to have a breakdown (of talks),” recalled Prescott. He said he and the Japanese, European and American negotiators huddled in the early hours to achieve a breakthrough. “We got together in a room. I rang Al Gore (the then US vice president) and said we were closing the hall soon because they are going to have a wedding. The Japanese said, ‘We will go one point more, so long as it is less than America. And the Americans said we will go for one point more providing it is lower than Europe. At which point I said if we have to take the moral stand then we will.”

Prescott has since been accused of giving too much ground at Kyoto, but he said compromise would probably be necessary again if a deal is to be secured. He also emphasised that any deal must be seen to be equitable.

“If we are deciding a global formula not to suffer consequences of climate change, we had better make it fair to achieve a consensus because that is the key at the end of day. ”

Although, he said, none of the nations are showing their hands yet, he predicted politicians would have to find an agreement.

“The science is so clear. For policymakers to just walk away from that would be disastrous. I can’t believe they will do it.”

In line with many developing nations, Prescott says targets should be set according to emissions per person rather than percentage cuts from past levels, as was the case in Kyoto. If wealthy citizens try to maintain their high-polluting nations, he predicted a political crisis.

Although his time as UK transport secretary saw a massive expansion of car ownership, Prescott said he had called on China to do more to promote public transport and limit traffic congestion.

Tomorrow, Prescott will travel to the southern Chinese city of Xiamen, where he will receive an honour that runs against his UK reputation as a mangler of language. ” I am a little bit embarrassed. I am going to Xiamen university, where they will make me an honorary professor, which will create a lot of comment in Britain.”