John Prescott has defended China’s role in the climate change summit, saying the blame for its flawed outcome must lie with the United States and Barack Obama.
The former deputy prime minister helped negotiate the Kyoto protocol in 1997, and was in Copenhagen acting as an informal bridge between the Chinese delegation and others.
As a frequent visitor to China, who knows many of its officials personally, Prescott fears privately that the Chinese will walk away from the talks if they continue to be singled out for blame.
In a letter to the Guardian, Prescott criticises the US climate change special envoy, Todd Stern, who “said at Copenhagen emissions weren’t about ‘morality or politics’, they were ‘just maths’, with China projected to emit 60% more CO2 than the US by 2030″.
In his letter Prescott claims that Stern’s arguments “ignored the more transparent measure of pollution per capita, which shows the US emits 20 tonnes per person every year, compared to China’s six tonnes, whilst America’s GDP per person is almost eight times greater than the Chinese”. He also attacks President Barack Obama for suggesting there had been a period of “two decades of talking and no action. That might have been true in America, which refused to sign up to Kyoto, but not in the case of China or Europe, who followed a lot of that protocol’s policies. Indeed Obama’s offer of a 17% cut is wholly dependent on Congressional approval and will still be less than Kyoto targets.” Prescott is climate change convenor for the Council of Europe, with the role of exploring how to keep the talks on the road.
China itself defended its “crucial role” in saving the Copenhagen conference from failure, according to the state media’s first blow-by-blow rebuttal of European claims that China wrecked a climate deal.
In a florid account of prime minister Wen Jiabao’s 60 hours in Copenhagen, the Xinhua news agency said the premier staved off the “unrealistic and unfair demands” of Britain, Germany and Japan.
There is no direct criticism of the US, but Obama is described as “awkward” in the presence of the Chinese premier.
According to the lengthy defence of China’s actions, European nations repeatedly tried to impose secret drafts, unscheduled meetings and a hidden agenda on China and other developing nations.
The article, likely to have been approved at the highest level of government, notes that Wen walked out of a state dinner after hearing that an unscheduled meeting of leaders was being arranged soon afterwards to discuss a new draft text.
“It was really absurd that the country who called for the meeting never informed China,” the report says. “Premier Wen concluded that this was no small matter.
“Since the start of the conference, there had been cases where individual or small group of countries put forward new texts in disregard of the principle of openness and transparency, arousing strong complaints from other participants.”
Such accusations infuriate senior European negotiators, who claim China was fully informed ahead of Copenhagen of the plan for a new document, though it never agreed to the content.
Xinhua avoids mention of how and why China killed attempts to impose 2050 targets for reducing emissions. Beijing has consistently rejected such long-term goals, which it sees as a threat to itseconomic growth.It also fails to address claims that China torpedoed the inclusion of a 1.5C maximum global temperature rise, requested by small island states and African nations. Instead, it says, Wen showed sincerity by accepting a rise of no more than 2C by 2050.
EU Kyoto Negoitator John Prescott has given his response to President Obama’s speech, saying he must do more to help secure a political agreement that is credible .
In a vlog on his New Earth Deal website (www.newearthdeal.org) he says:
“Well I’ve heard President Obama’s speech here in Copenhagen and I do have to say to him, it’s wonderful to hear an American President say we’ve got to do something and get action not talk.
“But I was a little bit put out when he said nothing has happened since the Kyoto. That’s certainly true in America but not in Europe. We lived up to a lot of our Kyoto oblogations and the deal President Obama has announced is still less than what European nations have observed since Kyoto.
“It’s still the largest and wealthiest nation and the greatest emitter. So hopefully that speech is a statement of his position at the moment. But when he gets in the room with Gordon and others he’s going to have to offer a little bit more.
“As I told the Chinese environment minister, he’s got to wriggle a little bit more and Europe’s got to be talking about 30% as the minimum not the maximum.
“All these three groups have got to make a change so let’s hope that’s going to happen in the next couple of hours so we do have a political agreement that is credible.”
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP15.)
Mr Prescott was there as the Rapporteur on Climate Change for the Council of Europe and leading its New Earth Deal campaign for a fairer deal for the developing countries. You can follow his daily diary at www.newearthdeal.org.
Kyoto negotiator Prescott issues Stern Warning to US at Copenhagen
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott issued a stern warning to the US that they must do much more to help a secure a deal at Copenhagen.
Speaking at the Danish Parliament to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr Prescott publicly criticised the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern for saying emissions was ‘just maths.’
Mr Prescott, who is at Copenhagen as the Council of Europe’s Rapporteur on Climate Change, said:
“I was very concerned with remarks from the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern in which he pointed out that China, by 2020, will be emitting far more than America.
“Todd Stern also said that with emissions “you’ve just got to do the maths. This isn’t a matter of politics or morality or anything else. It’s just maths.”
“Well let me give my interpretation of the maths. The US emits 20 tonnes of CO2 per person a year compared to about 6 tonnes for China, 2 for India and less than 1 for Africa. The US also, according to the World Bank, has a GDP per person seven times higher than China.
“Such remarks offend anyone with a sense of fairness and certainly goes against the agreed UN principle that governs climate change negotiations – that of common and differentiated responsibilities, as we emphasised in our Council of Europe resolution. In other words, the polluter pays.
“That attitude certainly makes the relationship and the possibility of an agreement between rich and poorer countries, much more difficult.
“It’s not just about maths. It’s about equity and social justice, which President Obama has talked an awful lot about in the last few months.”
Mr Prescott, who negotiated on behalf of the EU at Kyoto in 1997, said President Obama should make the most of his executive power to increase the US emissions target.
He added: “These two great nations of China and the US need to redouble their efforts to find an agreement.
“It is said that China’s target of reducing carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 underestimates what it will actually achieve.
“And the US President now has the power, confirmed by his courts, to act to reduce the threat of greenhouse gases to the heath of his nation without the necessary agreement of Congress.
“That’s why I think its possible that the US could maker a greater contribution than its target of a 17% emissions cut.
“So the world calls upon China, the US and Europe to make a greater contribution to secure a credible political agreement at Copenhagen. Or as the Council of Europe has called it, a New Earth Deal.
“Because if we don’t, our children and our children’s children will never forgive us.”
Ends
Full text of Mr Prescott’s address at the Danish Parliament
It feels that 12 years on I’m back at Kyoto. All those hopes and fears of an agreement (or lack of one) are running rife through the Bella Centre.
Having met and talked to a number of my former Kyoto negotiators here, we’re all agreed it seems to be following the same path.
So is this going to be Kyoto 2 or a separate Copenhagen agreement?
I have to say I’m in the Kyoto 2 camp.
It has to build on the existing treaty – not replace it.
That may involve a twin track process in the final political agreement that runs alongside Kyoto and leads to a legally binding agreement at a future COP.
I believe we’re 80% there on a deal, just as we were at Kyoto at this stage. This is particularly impressive as back in 1997 we found agreement from 47 industrial countries – now we’ve got to find consensus from 192!
However there’s still a long way to go and just as we experienced back then, there’ll be lots of walking and talking, and negotiations into the night.
Also as at Kyoto, Europe’s playing a major part in forging that agreement.
Gordon Brown in getting the leaders to come here for the final push and Ed Miliband working night and day as the Chair of the committee dealing with the finance for the agreement.
Ed is handling the pivotal issue that will make or break a Copenhagen deal.
There are of course other issues such more funding, greater emissions cuts, the timetable for an agreement along with verification of the commitments.
In fact our Council of Europe resolution called for the right to live in a clean, safe and healthy environment a human right.
However we really do need to avoid the elephant traps – the late issues such as a demand from G77 to commit the agreement to stabilising the increase in temperature from two degrees to 1.5.
I understand their motive and the intention but it threatens the possibility of an agreement in the last 60 hours, as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has made clear. Failure is not an option here.
We must also be careful about intemperate language during these negotiations.
I was very concerned with remarks from the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern in which he pointed out that China, by 2020, will be emitting far more than America.
Todd Stern also said that with emissions “you’ve just got to do the maths. “This isn’t a matter of politics or morality or anything else. It’s just maths.”
Well let me give my interpretation of the maths. The US emits 20 tonnes of CO2 per person a year compared to about 6 tonnes for China, 2 for India and less than 1 for Africa. The US also, according to the World Bank, has a GDP per person seven times higher than China.
Such remarks offend anyone with a sense of fairness and certainly goes against the agreed UN principle that governs climate change negotiations – that of common and differentiated responsibilities, as we emphasised in our Council of Europe resolution.
In other words, the polluter pays.
That attitude certainly makes the relationship and the possibility of an agreement between rich and poorer countries, much more difficult.
It’s not just about maths. It’s about equity and social justice, which President Obama has talked an awful lot about in the last few months.
These two great nations of China and the US need to redouble their efforts to find an agreement.
It is said that China’s target of reducing carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 underestimates what it will actually achieve.
And the US President now has the power, confirmed by his courts, to act to reduce the threat of greenhouse gases to the heath of his nation without the necessary agreement of Congress.
That’s why I think its possible that the US could maker a greater contribution than its target of a 17% emissions cut.
So the world calls upon China, the US and Europe to make a greater contribution to secure a credible political agreement at Copenhagen. Or as the Council of Europe has called it, a New Earth Deal.
Because if we don’t, our children and our children’s children will never forgive us.
So let the Copenhagen agreement be a testament to future generations that the world had the courage to find a global solution to the global problem of climate change.
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP15.)
Mr Prescott is there as the Rapporteur on Climate Change for the Council of Europe and leading its New Earth Deal campaign for a fairer deal for the developing countries.
You can follow his daily diary at www.newearthdeal.org
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott is in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP15.)
Mr Prescott is there as the Rapporteur on Climate Change for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and leading its New Earth Deal campaign for a fairer deal for the developing countries.
You can follow his daily diary here at www.newearthdeal.org
The Council of Europe’s Rapporteur on Climate Change John Prescott discussing Copenhagen with the Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner – the ranking Republican on the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on BBC’s Newsnight.
Mr Prescott, who was the EU negotiator at Kyoto, will lead the delegation from the Council of Europe at Copenhagen from Monday December 14th.
Forward to 16:41 to see the video (Sorry but this is only available to people inside the UK)
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.
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.”
