Thursday, 19th November 2009
Scots Tory MEP throws down Copenhagen gauntlet
As the Copenhagen climate change conference approaches, a Scots Tory MEP has thrown down the gauntlet calling for World politicians to focus on ‘action’ rather than ‘words’ and sign up to an ambitious, achievable plan to cut carbon emissions.
Mr Stevenson, President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, made the comments at a seminar on 'Climate Change: Towards an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen?' in the European Parliament earlier today (19th November 2009).
Mr Stevenson said:
“The whole point of Copenhagen, of Kyoto, of setting these climate change targets, is to protect our children’s future. The conference is a great opportunity to commit firmly to reducing carbon emissions and ensuring we do not continue to destroy our planet.”
In his speech, Mr Stevenson called for more consideration to be made to the vast swathes of global rainforest destroyed each year, with 25% of all CO2 emissions annually coming from deforestation. Power plants are the worst culprits generating 26.6% of all CO2 emissions. By contrast, all international transport by sea and air, only accounts for 2.4% of annual emissions.
Struan continued:
“We must ensure we secure an ambitious package of proposals from Copenhagen and seek guarantees that the measures we take are sustainable and do nothing to damage biodiversity. Greedy power companies should not think the EU strategy is a green light for amassing profits at the expense of the environment."
