Greenpeace response to G8 climate agreement

7 July 2005 - Greenpeace today branded the G8 agreement on climate change 'a major missed opportunity to tackle dangerous climate change'.

Despite spin from the British government it is clear that there has been no change in the US position and it remains alone in resisting the urgent need for action. Greenpeace UK Executive Director Stephen Tindale said:

"We applauded Tony Blair's decision to put climate change on the agenda at Gleneagles, but sadly he hasn't achieved what he intended. He wanted to get Bush to commit to urgent action. Instead there has been no real change in the original positions and President Bush is isolated from the 12 other countries who have all emphasised the need for tough targets to reduce CO2 emissions."

The communiqué included a statement affirming that the countries that have already ratified Kyoto would continue to work within that framework. The US remains outside. The conference also saw a strong statement from significant developing countries (the G5 - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) stating that an improvement on the Kyoto Protocol, plus a real commitment to share sustainable energy technology with developing countries, are the essential next steps.

This virtual split means that the next opportunity for real progress will be through the UK presidency of the European Union at the first Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. This will take place in November in Montreal.

The seven European leaders need to strengthen the international position on the urgency of climate change and need to implement strict targets to try to stabilise climate change.

Stephen Tindale continued: "Getting Bush to say that climate change is happening and is human induced is not the big success it is being portrayed as to the media. Bush has publicly admitted this on several occasions since 2001. Sadly his actions have not reflected this admission – and they don't seem likely to now."

For more information call Louise Edge on 07801 212993