Brown: World needs £60 billion climate fund for poor

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today that the world should create a £60 billion-per-year global fund to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

Speaking before a group of ambassadors, green groups and business organisations gathered in London, Brown said, “The UK is determined to secure an international agreement at Copenhagen that puts the world on a path to avoiding dangerous climate change.  All countries have to take action, but to help developing countries move to low-carbon and climate-resilient growth we will need a new system of financial support for greener technology, deforestation and adaptation.  I hope the proposals I set out today can help move the talks in that direction.”

Brown’s announcement forms part of the Government’s 5-Point Plan to tackle climate change. That plans aims to:

1. Protect the public from immediate risk
2. Prepare for the future through adaptation
3. Push for an international agreement
4. Build a low-carbon Britain
5. Help everyone play their part

The plan comes on the heels of the recent UK Climate Projections, which warns that — if the world continues on a high-emissions path — Britain could be up to 12 degrees C warmer on the hottest summer days by 2080, and sea levels could rise by 36 centimetres.

“This is a make or break time for our climate and our future,” said Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

With less than six months left before crucial climate negotiations take place in the Danish capital Copenhagen, UK officials say the next global deal on climate change must be:

• Ambitious enough to limit climate change to 2 degrees C, 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 enough to keep all countries to their word with strong monitoring, reporting and verification; and  to allow money to flow to where it will make most difference by developing carbon markets; and
• Fair, by supporting the poorest countries to cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.

Success in Copenhagen is also vital for Britain’s economic future and national security, officials say. Building a low-carbon Britain and securing a Copenhagen deal will be in the nation’s business and economic interests: over 800,000 people are now employed in the low-carbon sector in the UK and well over a million jobs are predicted by the middle of the next decade.