Urgent Climate Summit Call

Over the weekend the Green Party issued the following appeal for an urgent summit on climate change involving all major party leaders and leading NGOs. I suspect that the other party leaders will act like the modern equivalent of King Canute - watching the shore as the sea levels rise



The Green Party today invited major party leaders and leading NGOs to an urgent summit meeting to agree a determined national response to the climate crisis.
Responding to today's news that the climate crisis is even more desperate than was previously thought (1), party leader Dr Caroline Lucas MEP said, "This is now so urgent it must go beyond party politics.
"The government and the Conservatives still have inadequate targets and the LibDems are calling for zero-carbon by too late.
"We can disagree about most things, but on this we all need to get onto the same page, and it needs to be the right page. I think British voters of all colours would like to see this happen."
The Greens' leader offered to facilitate the proposed crisis meeting which would involve the main party leaders and representatives of the leading non-governmental organisations dealing with climate change and energy.
Dr Lucas said, "This is about our future, it's about everyone's interests. We must all accept the targets demanded by science, not the targets we think will play best with some interest group or other. We need to commit to meeting those targets, and we need the UK to take the lead internationally."
The Greens noted that the Labour government and the Conservative Party both now have a target of 80% reductions in CO2 by 2050 compared with 1990 levels - as does US President Barack Obama. But this, say the Greens, is inadequate. Caroline Lucas explained, "The target needs to be higher and the target date sooner (2). We need to hear what climate scientists are saying is necessary, and if that's to be zero-carbon by 2030, then that's what we must achieve."
The Green leader said this would be possible given a determined national and international effort. "We need to put the UK economy on something like a war footing - nothing less than that will do the job - and we'll have the added advantage that we'll come out of the recession with a more resilient, more stable economy.
"And we need the UK to take the lead internationally.
"But first, let's meet, agree the right targets, and get the whole country pulling together towards a sustainable economy."
Notes:
1. It has been widely reported in today's media that Professor Chris Field, author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, told the American Science conference in Chicago yesterday that future global temperatures "will be beyond anything" previously predicted. Professor Field said that even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had underestimated the rate of change, and that warming is likely to cause more damage than has hitherto been forecast.
2. The Green Party currently argues for a target of 90% reductions by 2030 - but climate experts within the party are now urging that the latest science demands an even more challenging target. Green Party spring conference is due to decide the matter.