Britain declares climate change greatest threat

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared climate change the greatest threat facing humankind and has made the issue a key focus of his G8 presidency. Britain also has the ambitious individual target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent within the middle of this century.

While London welcomes the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, British Environment Secretary Magaret Beckett told a recent conference of scientists in the UK that an international approach to combat climate change is vital as no single country could solve the problem alone.

Margaret Beckett said the Kyoto Protocol would only save between two and three per cent of the predicted 30 per cent rise in global carbon dioxide emissions from 1990-2010.

"Kyoto is an essential first step and shows what can be done when the international community works together. But we need to move forward through low carbon technology, greater energy efficiency, emissions trading schemes and the clean development mechanism which provides a novel way to slow growth in developing country emissions while at the same time providing resources and new technologies that will aid development."

And as she told Deutsche Welle’s Jennifer Macey at the 2004 renewable energy conference in Bonn, this was one of the reasons why Prime Minister Tony Blair had made climate change a focus of the G8 presidency.