7 June 2007
The Prime Minister has welcomed an agreement at the G8 summit on how to tackle climate change and global warming.
Speaking to journalists after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Blair said that leaders of the major industrialised nations had taken "a major, major step forward".
There was consensus on the need for a new global deal, to include nations such as America, China and India, with large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions at its heart, he said.
"The possibility is here for the first time of getting a global deal on climate change, with a substantial cut in emissions and everyone in the deal, which is the only way that we are going to get the radical action on the climate that we need."
Asked about the level of cuts envisaged, the Prime Minister said that "serious consideration" would be given to the goal of halving emissions by 2050.
Final Summit
In his last G8 summit as Prime Minister, Mr Blair said he was "both surprised and very pleased" at what had been achieved on climate change since the Gleneagles summit in 2005.
The agreement reached in Germany would have been an unimaginable aspiration just a few years ago, he said.
Image copyright: Reuters
delicious
digg
facebook
