Reuters reports November 22, 2006: “Blair seeks urgent action on climate change.”

There is “very little time to waste” in developing policies to tackle climate change, Tony Blair has warned.
The prime minister has also said that internationally and domestically there is “a huge amount more to do” to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

His comments came as he contributed an article to Friends of the Earth’s ‘Big ask’ climate debate.

FoE director Tony Juniper said: “Over the next few months, politicians will be debating what action the UK should take to tackle climate change. What they do will affect us all so it’s vitally important the public get involved in the debate.”  “I will be pressing the prime minister to introduce annual targets for cutting the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions.”

In his article, the prime minister said he was “fully aware of just how serious a challenge it is to our planet and way of life”.

“There is, I promise you, no complacency in government. We recognise that we have little time before climate change becomes irreversible and possibly catastrophic,” he added.

“Its true that carbon dioxide emissions have increased marginally in recent years, which is why we have to do more.

“That is why we have now set a tough limit on industry emissions in the next phase of the European carbon trading scheme.

Tony Blair said: “But even without new action, we are still on course for a 16 per cent reduction by 2010.

“And, importantly we have also shown the world and particularly the new economic powerhouses like China that this can be achieved without sacrificing prosperity.”

Blair also renewed his call for a successor agreement to the Kyoto protocol, adding that “we have to do it quickly”.

“The signs are that the world is slowly waking up to the threat of climate change. Together we have to ensure this leads to action at home and across the planet,” he concluded.

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Further -
Blair joins online climate debate: THE BIG ASK CLIMATE DEBATE.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has started an online debate with Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper on the solutions to climate change. The Big Ask climate debate is being hosted at www.foe.co.uk and anyone can take part.

The pair launch the debate with short articles outlining what they think needs to be done to tackle global warming.

Members of the public are invited to add their thoughts and comments over the course of the following week with Mr Blair and Mr Juniper posting their responses on November 29.

The debate comes one week after the Government announced in the Queen’s Speech that it would introduce a Climate Change Bill.

This will be debated in Parliament before becoming law. The Big Ask campaign is calling for the Government to ensure that the Climate Change Bill commits the UK to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by at least 3% year on year.

Tony Juniper said: “Over the next few months, politicians will be debating what action the UK should take to tackle climate change. What they do will affect us all so it’s vitally important the public get involved in the debate.

“I will be pressing the Prime Minister to introduce annual targets for cutting the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions. But everyone can have their say in The Big Ask Climate debate at www.foe.co.uk.”