British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday hailed a pledge to tackle climate change by leaders of the Group of Eight (G8), describing it as a ”major, major step forward”.
”The possibility is here, for the first time, of getting a global deal on climate change with substantial cuts on emissions, with everyone in the deal, which is the only way that we’re going to get the radical action on the climate that we need,” he said.
Blair told reporters after a meeting on the sidelines of the summit with new French President Nicolas Sarkozy that fine-tuning still needed to be done, but he added: ”I think we’ve made a major, major step forward.”
The G8 leaders pledged to take ”strong and early action” to tackle climate change to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming, according to a joint communiqué, which Blair’s official spokesperson read to reporters.
The text said there should be ”substantial global emissions reductions”, with all major emitters seriously considering halving harmful gases by 2050.
Blair was asked if he was disappointed that no specific target had been set for reductions, which could allow more sceptical countries room for manoeuvre at a later date.
He told reporters that what was important was that the process had been agreed for a future deal to replace the United Nations-backed Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.
”What you’ve got is a sense that a substantial cut in emissions is of the order of halving of emissions, the 50% cut. I think that’s very important,” Blair said.
The British prime minister said an ”agreement” could not be concluded at the Heiligendamm summit.
”That’s not going to happen until you get everyone around the table,” he said.
”But you’ve got the principles of the agreement set out and agreed by everybody and that’s not happened before … The whole tone of this would have been unimaginable a year ago, actually.”
Blair singled out German Chancellor and G8 host Angela Merkel, praising her for putting the fight against climate change at the heart of the summit agenda.
He again praised United States President George Bush for his announcement last week to commit to work with international partners for the first time on the issue and set long-term reduction goals.
He said the situation had been ”transformed” from two years ago, when Blair hosted the G8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, adding: ”I am both surprised and very pleased by how far we have come forward in these past couple of years.” — AFP
