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Your Briefing and a returnable survey on issues the UK Government is addressing in the Queen’s Speech

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Introduction

Last month, the Queen’s Speech outlined the details of the UK Government’s legislative programme for the 2009/10 session.

There are several key priorities in the legislative programme which will affect Scotland. 

Three centrepiece Bills which relate to Scotland are;

• The Financial Services Bill – a substantial piece of legislation which is designed to address many of the issues arising form the economic crisis and the failure of the banks. 
• The Digital Economy Bill – The digital economy is a key part of the UK Government’s active industrial strategy and this Bill enables the roll out of new universal digital services and creates mechanisms to secure the future of regional news funding.
• The Energy Bill – This Bill launches the plan for carbon capture (CCS) technology power stations and places important new rules on the energy companies to protect consumers.

Within this briefing I have enclosed an outline of the main measures contained in each of these key Bills.  

I am keen to hear your views on these issues we’re addressing in the legislative programme.  Please find enclosed a survey which you can complete and return to my office at 154-156 Raeberry Street, GLASGOW G20 6EA. 

Ann McKechin MP
Glasgow North

The Financial Services Bill

The UK Government is reforming our financial services industry to give consumers more protection and empower the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Government to introduce tougher regulation of banks and their risky practices to protect the taxpayer.

The Government will ensure that the financial system that emerges from the crisis is one not only rebuilt on a stronger and sounder footing, but is also one that is fairer and works for consumers.  The measures in the Bill seek to restore consumers’ confidence in financial services by providing them with greater levels of protection and education and by giving powerful and easier routes to redress where consumers have suffered widespread detriment.  Building on the decisive action taken over the past year, the Government is now proposing to further strengthen and reform financial regulation. This Bill:

• Toughens up prudential regulation and supervision of firms by giving the FSA new powers;
• Creates a new body to monitor and manage system-wide risks – called Council for Financial Stability, to help prevent this crisis happening again;
• Gives the FSA new powers so that banking remuneration is more appropriate and transparent;

Stability and Sustainability First
The Financial Services Bill will create a new, statutory Council for Financial Stability (‘Council’) responsible for considering emerging risks to the financial stability of the UK and global financial system, and coordinating an appropriate response by the UK’s authorities consisting of the Chancellor (as chair), Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the FSA.  As necessary, it will draw on external expertise and inherits the current role of the Tripartite Standing Committee.  The Council will place financial stability arrangements on a more formal, transparent and accountable basis.

The Bill will strengthen the objectives of the FSA and enhance the FSA’s regulatory powers to support its new, strengthened and more systemic approach to regulation and supervision. The Bill is modifying the FSA’s rule-making powers so that they may be used in pursuit of any of the FSA’s objectives (not just consumer protection as at present); extending the FSA’s information-gathering powers to non-regulated firms – including hedge funds – if it considers that information relevant to financial stability; strengthening powers to take action in relation to firms and individuals which are guilty of misconduct; and establishing stand-alone powers to take emergency action to place restrictions on short selling and to require disclosure of short selling.  The Bill will also give the FSA new powers over bankers pay.

Controlling excessive pay for top bankers
The FSA has already published its remuneration Code of Practice for Banks, which comes into force in January 2010.  We are now imposing a duty on the FSA to require specified authorised persons to have remuneration clauses and to ensure that remuneration policies are consistent with the effective management of risk as agreed by the G20 Leaders at Pittsburgh.  The FSA will also need to have regard to any future international agreements similar to the G20. 

The FSA will be given a new power to rule that employment contracts not complying with the code are void and unenforceable.  The FSA will also be given the power to make provision for the recovery of any payment made under a void provision.

Protecting the taxpayer
The Bill will legislate for ‘Living Wills’, called Recovery and Resolution Plans to ensure that firms establish clear contingency plans for action in times of failure. These aim to reduce the probability of firm failure (the recovery element), and the impact of firm failure if it does occur on the wider financial system, the economy and the public finances (the resolution element).  This will protect taxpayers from the costs arising from future bank failures. 

The Treasury will establish through secondary legislation timetables for Banks to implement such Living Wills and the FSA will be required to sign off on Banks plans for Living Wills.

Protecting and supporting consumers
The Financial Services Bill incorporates the creation of a Consumer Financial Education Body and a Money Guidance service for bank customers.

We will require the FSA to establish a new independent authority with a remit for increasing consumer education and awareness and coordinating existing consumer education activities.  This new authority will coordinate the rollout of a national Money Guidance service in 2010, which will deliver accessible and impartial financial guidance.

Better routes to redress are needed where there has been widespread detriment to consumers. Measures in the Bill will enable consumers to obtain redress and compensation more easily in cases of widespread consumer detriment, by enabling a representative to bring an action through the courts on behalf of a group of consumers (so called ‘class actions’).

Unsolicited credit card cheques
The Bill also bans unsolicited credit card cheques, to prevent financial institutions from encouraging customers to borrow more than they can afford.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme
The Bill improves depositor protection by expanding the remit of the FSCS to allow it to act as an agent to deliver compensation to UK customers of financial firms based overseas.

The context – Going for Growth

This time last year, the world banking system and the global economy were staring into the abyss.  The UK Government stepped into support our economy and led the global response through our leadership of the G20.   The action we took is working, although the job isn’t finished yet.  Without it, another 500,000 jobs would have been lost.  

Amongst the measures taken to support spending by the population in the economy to promote growth are;

• Direct investment to create jobs with the £1bn Future Jobs Fund
• Protection of manufacturing jobs with the extended vehicle discount scheme
• A cut in VAT worth £20 a month to the average family and vital to local businesses, plus an income tax cut of £145 on the basic rate.  These actions are helping hard pressed people affordably buy goods keeping firms open for business.
• Help for 150,000 businesses by allowing more time to pay their tax bills
• A guaranteed support scheme that has helped 300,000 fight off repossession.
• Increases in and maintenance of tax credits, benefits, pensions and pension credit.

The action taken to support a return to growth through spending is necessary.  We must support the economy now and until recovery is secured.

The context - Dealing with the deficit

Much has been made of the size of the national debt.  However, before dealing with debt we first need sustainable growth.  The UK Government has set out a plan to reduce the deficit, but only when growth is secured.   It is important to outline with clarity precisely why the Government is focussing today’s spend on growth, not debt. 

The current deficit is attributable to falling tax revenues, rising welfare spending and the upfront costs of rescuing the banks – it is not attributable to discretionary fiscal stimulus.  IMF figures confirm that the UK’s fiscal stimulus spend was actually modest and relatively brief (ending in 2010) by G20 standards.  If the Government tries to reduce the deficit by cutting stimulus spend, it would reduce capacity for demand in the economy still further – demand which is vital to growth.  

The present and future costs associated with cutting Government spending when unemployment is rising are rarely mentioned in the public debate over the deficit. The figures show that business self investment has been slashed over the past 2 years; not only on capital assets but also intangible investments such as product development and skills training. This and the impact of higher unemployment reduce the tax return to the Government.  This is why Government spending to fill the output gap is so necessary.  With this in mind, it is clear that the proposal to instantly withdraw the Government fiscal stimulus plus public spending cuts presently is potentially disastrous. 

The UK Government has laid down a plan contained within the Fiscal Responsibility Act for halving the deficit over four years once the recovery has a firm foothold, and how we will plan for future growth.

The Digital Economy Bill

The UK’s digital economy is worth around 8% of our GDP.  Britain’s creative industries have become number 1 in the world as a proportion of our GDP over the past decade. 

This Bill is a key part of the UK Government active industrial strategy and will maintain and build on Britain’s leading position.  It includes measures to ensure a competitive digital communications infrastructure, protect intellectual property and maintain plurality in regional news.  Britain has benefited from the digital revolution but we need to ensure our digital infrastructure is cutting edge to ensure businesses can compete globally.  News in the nations and regions is under threat – many ITV regions have already merged and newsrooms have been downsized, with journalists being made redundant.   We need to act to ensure that there is plurality in regional news provision.    Illegal file-sharing is costing the UK’s creative industries and creative talent hundreds of millions of pounds a year. We need to legislate to reduce this widespread problem – and all the evidence suggests the simple and fair proposals we have will do so.

Digital copyright
The Bill seeks to ensure support for creative industries in a digital world by introducing proportionate measures to reduce the widespread problem of unlawful sharing of creative work (such as a song or film) online.   These measures will place obligations on Internet Service Providers to work with rights holders and if necessary to take technical measures against persistent infringers; protecting authors by extending public lending rights to non-print books such as audio books and e-books; updating the UK’s 300 year old copyright framework through the regulation of collection societies (who collect revenue on behalf of authors) and to make provision for the granting of licenses for “orphan works” – creative works where the copyright holder is untraceable.

Protecting regional news
Action on public service content and broadcasting by providing for the setting up (through Ofcom) of Independently Funded News Consortia to maintain news on the regions and nations on channel 3 (ITV) and guarantee a plurality of news providers; securing the future of Channel 4 as a public service broadcaster by broadening its functions to make it fit for the digital age;

Improvements to the digital communications infrastructure
Measures are included to strengthen the communications infrastructure by updating Ofcom’s duties on technical issues such as mobile network and spectrum and; enabling rapid progress to be made on the technical roll out of digital radio across the UK.  (The Government will also be introducing a universal service on broadband – it will deliver at least 2 mega bits per second to every household by 2012.

Digital security and safety
Measures ensuring protecting children by putting video game regulation on a statutory basis and; help to ensure the efficient and effective management and distribution of internet domain names.

The Energy Bill

The Bill follows on from the low carbon transition plan, published in July 2009. This plan aims to deliver emissions cuts of 34 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 and of 80 per cent by 2050, while maintaining security of supply, maximising economic opportunities and protecting vulnerable consumers.

Launching Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology
We need to use all the carbon free technology we have at our disposal to reduce carbon emissions today – we cannot afford to wait.  The Energy Bill introduces a carbon capture and storage incentive to support the construction of up to four UK demonstration projects, to be chosen in a competition. 

CCS is one of the technologies we are investing in to cut carbon emissions.  The plant collects CO2 which would otherwise go into the atmosphere, transports it and locks it permanently underground in empty gas and oil fields.  This technology can reduce carbon emissions from coal fired power stations by 90 per cent.  CCS introduction is projected to create and protect engineering and manufacturing jobs and will help to make possible a diverse supply of low carbon energy so as to tackle climate change. 

Imposing social duties on the Energy Companies
The Bill provides for mandatory social price support to reduce energy bills for the most vulnerable.  We will mandate the energy companies to discount bills for some of those on the lowest incomes. 

At the moment, more than 800,000 households receive discounts and other help with their energy bills, part of a voluntary agreement between Government and the energy companies.  This agreement is due to come to an end in March 2011.  This measure in the Bill ensures that when the voluntary agreement ends, discounts for the most vulnerable will continue not from a voluntary arrangement but in law, through compulsory social programmes. 

We will make sure there is an increase in the amount spent, and expect to target new resources at the most vulnerable consumers, particularly older poorer pensioners.

Improving Ofgem
The Energy Bill increases the powers of the statutory regulator, Ofgem, to deal with exploitation of electricity distribution constraints by generators and increases Ofgem’s power to fine companies.

The Bill clarifies Ofgem’s objectives on tackling climate change, ensuring secure energy supplies and the role of measures other than competition in protecting the interests of consumers and gives the Secretary of State the power to ban cross-subsidy between gas and electricity accounts.

Useful websites

• Ann McKechin MP
  http://www.annmckechinmp.net/
• Financial Services Bill
  http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/financialservices.html 
• Energy Bill
  http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/energy.html 
• Digital Economy Bill
  http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/digitaleconomy.html 

Listening Panel Survey: The Queen’s Speech

I’d be very grateful to hear your views on the issues surrounding these key measures in our legislative programme. 

1.    The Government has prioritised reigning in unsafe practices and unjustified remuneration practices of UK banks along with investment in jobs and the economy to ensure a return to stable and sustainable growth. 

What do you think the Government should do next to ensure that banks and the economy work in the best interests of all people?

2.    Constant improvements in technology are making old rules redundant and are changing the way we can access information and share data. The Digital Economy Bill is about updating the legal framework dealing with communications and broadcasting for a technology based economy. 

What priorities would you choose to ensure fairness in the ‘digital economy’?

3.    The Energy Bill is focused upon making gas and electricity more affordable for people, controlling the practices of energy companies and kick starting the carbon capture and storage plan to make carbon free energy from coal – to supplement renewables and nuclear power to stop global warming. 

People need lots of affordable AND carbon free energy, today.  How do you think this can this be achieved right now?

Thank you for taking the time to respond to the survey.

• Please return responses to Ann McKechin MP, 154-156 Raeberry Street, GLASGOW G20 6EA, or by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Climate change is happening, it is real and it is man-made.  Just as the world is beginning to focus properly on tackling the problem and considering serious action to ensure a peak and fall in carbon emissions, opponents of this vital action to stop global warming have been trying to muddy the waters.

The overwhelming majority of people qualified to speak on the matter agree that C02 emissions are a proven and significant cause of increases in the enviornmental temperature of the earth's atmosphere which will impact on our way of life. 

I wholeheartedly support the UK Government's important efforts to take affirmative action to reduce man-made greenhouse emissions which are a proven cause of global warming. 

Here are 10 facts on climate science everyone should know.

1. People say the world isn’t really getting warmer, some years are just hotter than others, and it varies / goes around in cycles.

a. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1997. That’s a fact, based on recorded temperatures since 1850 (when reliable records began).  Over the last 100 years the Earth has warmed by about 0.75 degrees Celsius and the speed it is warming at is getting faster.  These days the UK Spring arrives about 10 days earlier than it did in the 1970s. In 159 years of records, the 10 hottest years have been in the last 12 years.

b. Arctic sea ice is melting, the extent it reaches has shrunk by about 10% every 10 years since the late 70s.  The smallest amounts of Arctic summer ice on record were in the last 3 years: 2007-2009. In a few decades, large parts of the Arctic Ocean are expected to have no late summer sea-ice at all.

2. People say we’ve nothing to do with it.   

Carbon dioxide (CO2)  levels  in the atmosphere have gone up 38% since 1750 - the year the industrial revolution started. Rising levels of greenhouse gases are directly linked to human activity like burning fossil fuels and clearing forests.  There is a clear link between more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global warming.

3. But not all scientists agree though, right?  

The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that human induced climate change poses a huge threat to the world.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is not run by any government – ‘intergovernmental’ means it answers to all 192 governments signed up to it.  Its reports are written by independent scientists. It is one of the most rigorous scientific bodies that exists. It brings together many thousands of scientists from countries all over the world to put together the best assessments of climate science available. What about the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia? Don’t they undermine the science? There is an independent review looking at this incident. But there is an overwhelming consensus, based on decades of climate science and the work of thousands of scientists around the world which says that climate change is real and a major threat.

4. It’s too late, we just need to accept it.   

This international scientific panel says we need to stop the world getting more than 2 degrees warmer if we want to avoid dangerous climate change. After that it becomes harder to produce food and competition for water, sea level rises and loss of species get much worse.  We've got the technologies we need for a low-carbon world we just need to go for it now.  It'll cost much less to go low carbon than it will to let climate change happen.

5. A bit of melting ice and slightly hotter summers, what’s the problem?

Global sea levels have already risen by 10 centimetres in the last 50 years, thanks to melting ice and warming oceans.  This is already threatening low-lying countries, such as islands and Bangladesh.  Millions more people are expected to be flooded every year by 2080.   Latest predictions suggest the sea could rise by 1 metre this century.  In Europe alone this could affect over 20 million people.  And it looks like the sea is rising more quickly now than in the 20th century.

6. Some countries have always had droughts, it’s nothing new.   

Severe droughts are now twice as common as they were in 1970.   More drought is affecting which crops we can grow effectively.  Global demand for food is expected to nearly double by 2050.   But by 2025, lack of water could mean we produce a third less of the volume of cereals we currently eat – that’s the same as losing the entire grain crops of India and the US combined.

7. Global warming is just to do with natural changes in the Sun.

Scientists are clear that there is strong evidence that changes in solar radiation could not have caused the rapid warming we have seen over the past fifty years. The Met Office has stated that since the Industrial Revolution, additional greenhouse gases have had about ten times the effect on the climate as changes in the Sun’s output.

8. We’ve all got a lot on our plate – let’s worry about it later.   

Even if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow, we are already locked into a global temperature rise of at least 1.4 Degrees Celsius (since 1750) because of the delayed impact between emissions and temperature. It is already happening, and we need to act now to stop it getting much worse.

9. It won’t happen to us though.

Developed countries suffer impacts too. The 2003 heat wave in western Europe, which caused 35,000 deaths (2,000 in the UK), is already twice as likely to happen again next year.  By the 2040s Europe will consider such a summer normal. By 2060s they will consider it cool.

10. Surely it’s only the odd polar bear, who cares?

Species are already being forced to migrate or adapt.  Scientists think that around 20% of species will become extinct with 2 degrees of warming – and it will be a real challenge, even if we act right now, to keep to that limit.

• If you would like to find out more about the action the UK Government is taking to tackle climate change, please click here for your PDF copy of Ann McKechin MP's full Glasgow North Listening Panel briefing for constituents.

Your Briefing from Ann McKechin MP on Government action on Climate Change; including preparation for the Copenhagen Climate Summit 2009

•   Download document as PDF 186 Kb

Introduction

Climate Change is undoubtedly the biggest threat facing us today.  Hundreds of local people have got in touch with me on this issue, and at the heart of the issue is a basic, human concern which we all share: – we are worried about what kind of planet we are going to leave for the next generation.

We are right to be concerned.  Scientists recently gave their clearest warning yet of what could happen. They warned of:

• Drought. In some parts of Britain summer rainwater could drop by a quarter.
• Floods. Winter rains and snow could increase by almost a third. Flooding from heavier rainstorms would take its toll on businesses and homes.
• Heatwaves. In 2003, an increase in average temperature of just two degrees led to 35,000 extra deaths across europe.

But if we do act now, instead of these changes and what they mean for our homes and lives, we could have a more stable climate and new jobs in Britain.

Acting on climate change means jobs in construction as we embark on a national refurbishment of our homes, to cut down on wasted energy.  It means jobs in manufacturing as we lead new low-carbon industries, like electric cars.  It means a new future for places like the North Sea, which could start to store the CO2 from our power stations and heavy industry.

There are opportunities for us to become a world leader in manufacturing, engineering and exporting the turbines for windfarms, wavepower and hydro, we can build and perfect the carbon capture and storage plant needed to hold down coal emissions.   And building new industries means creating hundreds of thousands of real jobs.

So here is the challenge:  We do not even know exactly when carbon emissions will peak.  So we need to lead the way to a low-carbon future, but we also need to get all countries signed up to acting as well. 

We can help tip the balance by our own actions and by persuading other countries to join a global deal at the UN meeting in Copenhagen, this December.

Government Action: Facing up to dangerous climate change

Together, the UK Government; Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are cooperating on all the relevant issues to ensure that Britain leads the world with ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions by set deadlines.  It is predicted that temperatures across Britain will rise by 3 degrees - and I believe it's vital the Government takes action to prevent our climate heating up even more.

That's why our plan of action for reducing carbon emissions is about using every possible means to tackle the problem.  We cannot simply support one method of reducing emissions at the expense of all others.  And climate change doesn’t respect borders or countries. That’s why we must act together and do everything we can in every area we can to protect the future for the next generations. 

Here are some of the actions we've taken to lead the way in green policies:

Green Fiscal Stimulus
In the teeth of a recession we had a budget which found £1.4bn for new investment in developing a low carbon economy.  More than 20% of public investment since last November has been on sustainable and green projects.

Climate Change Act and Carbon Budgets
a world first, binding the UK government by law to reduce carbon emissions by a third by 2020 and by 80% by 2050.  My Labour colleagues in the Scottish Parliament have also won a tough new interim target enshrined in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act, meaning tough interim target to aim for of 42% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.  The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are now 21% below 1990 levels, beating our Kyoto target.  The UK Government now has to produce legally binding 'Carbon Budgets' – not just targets – so we will have to devise and decide all policy in the light of what impact it has on carbon emissions.

Renewable energy
Britain now has more offshore wind capacity than any other country in the world. Wind last year provided the electricity for 2m homes.  And already, a Scottish company is set to benefit from £1m of UK Government funding to develop new wind power technology.  Artemis Intelligent Power, based in Loanhead, Midlothian, has received one of three grants for offshore wind, announced by UK Secretary of State for the Environment and Climate Change Ed Miliband on 17 September in a speech at the TUC conference. The grant is intended to help allow Artemis to transfer their existing technology from the automotive sector to wind.

Renewable energy has doubled in five years. We aim to generate 30% of electricity from wind, marine and other renewable sources by 2020.

Clean Coal
We are leading the world in clean coal technology (Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS), which will mean instead of pumping out into the atmosphere unrefined, coal emissions will be stored in the rock of depleted gas and oil fields. Our policy is the most environmentally ambitious of any country in the world.  No new coal fired power stations will be built in Britain without inbuilt CCS technology.

Nuclear power
We have been setting the framework for nuclear power so we have big investment coming in for a proven technology.  The fact is that without nuclear power, we would be unable to reduce carbon emissions on the current, very urgent, timescale.  The UK Government believes that nuclear power generation is vital and basic to meeting both Scottish and British emissions targets and securing a stable energy supply during the transition to a low-carbon economy.

40% of the country's electricity will come from ALL low carbon sources by 2020 – that’s double today.  We will use all three home sources, renewables, nuclear and clean coal; building up our energy security.

Refurbishing homes for Energy efficiency
We have insulated over 5 million homes between 2002 and 2008.  By regulating the energy companies we are insulating 6m homes between 2008 and 2012, with every suitable loft and cavity being insulated by 2015.  A quarter of British homes should have had full eco-makeovers by 2020.

Smart Meters
Every home will have a smart meter by 2020.  Smart meters mean the end of estimated billing and waiting for the meter man.  Smart meters give people the power to cut their energy use, save money on their bills and cut their carbon emissions. 

Feed-in-tariffs
This is about micro-generation; paying people for energy they produce themselves. Labour is introducing feed-in tariffs to enable people to claim guaranteed cash back when they generate their own electricity, and incentives for renewable heat such as solar power.

Transport
The UK has led in the EU to set the toughest mandatory car emissions standards in the world, and to accelerate the commercialisation of electric vehicles.  We have imposed the toughest emission standards for aviation in the world.  We’re increasing rail capacity, for example with our commitment to the West coast main line high speed upgrade.  Rail is a sustainable, low carbon per head transport method – failure to fully support the future of rail with new projects would undermine our ability to meet our ambitious targets, above.  We have set out a plan to cut average carbon dioxide emissions from new cars across the EU to 95g/km by 2020 and plan to get EU wide rules on van emissions.  We are investing up to £30 million over the next two years to deliver several hundred low carbon buses and launching a competition for the country’s first Sustainable Travel City, as well as a new £5 million investment in improving cycle facilities at rail stations.

Funding
In the teeth of a recession we had a budget which found £1.4bn for new investment in developing a low carbon economy.  More than 20% of public investment since last November has been on sustainable and green projects. 

The importance of getting a new Global Deal on Climate Change

Copenhagen – December 2009

To limit temperature increase to less than two degrees and avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change, the Labour Government is leading international efforts to achieve a new international climate agreement at Copenhagen in December 2009.  We must ensure global emissions start to fall within the next decade and be at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.  For the first time, the Labour Government is publishing what the UK will be arguing for in the negotiations. 

We want countries to follow our lead in a deal that is:

• Ambitious – limit climate change to 2 degrees, by making sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak and start to reduce by 2020, and keep on shrinking to reach at most half of their 1990 levels by 2050.
• Effective – keep all countries to their word with strong monitoring, reporting and verification; and let money flow to where it will make most difference by developing carbon markets
• Fair – support the poorest countries to cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.

We need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature increase to no more than 2°C. Scientists have worked out the maths: emissions MUST peak and start to decline in the next 10 years and by 2050, they must be 50% less than they were in 1990.

A message from the Prime Minister – writing in Newsweek September 2009

In just 11 weeks, the world will convene in Copenhagen, under the auspices of the United Nations, to forge a new international agreement on climate change. It is a historic moment: the ultimate test of global cooperation. Yet the negotiations are proceeding so slowly that a deal is in grave danger.

If we miss this opportunity, there will be no second chance sometime in the future, no later way to undo the catastrophic damage to the environment we will cause.

Some argue that, amid demanding economic conditions, our resolve to meet environmental commitments should weaken, that the costs are too high. In fact, the opposite is true; a strong agreement in Copenhagen is essential for global economic recovery. For that recovery depends on the investment that an agreement will unleash. The economies that embrace the green revolution earliest will reap the greatest rewards.

The U.K. government has set out our proposals for an agreement that is ambitious, effective, and fair. Ambitious in that it must put the world on a path to limiting the average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius; effective by establishing market mechanisms to reduce emissions efficiently alongside a strong regime of monitoring and verification; and fair in providing help to allow developing countries to tackle climate change. In June I suggested a working figure of $100 billion per year from public and private sources by 2020. 

If it is necessary to clinch the deal, I will personally go to Copenhagen to achieve it—and will be urging my fellow leaders to do so too.

GORDON BROWN

Useful websites

• Ann McKechin MP - http://www.annmckechinmp.net/
• Department for Energy and Climate Change - http://www.decc.gov.uk/
• UK Low Carbon Transition Plan - http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/lowcarbon/
• Direct Gov - http://www.direct.gov.uk/
• Act on CO2 - http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/
• Act on Copenhagen - http://www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk/
• Climate Change projection maps - http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/
• Scottish Government - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/climatechange