This year is “critical” for climate change and the environment, Defra secretary David Miliband has revealed.
He told the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in India that a goal for stabilising climate change and the formation of an international framework for the future are key in the next 12 months.
Miliband said: “This must be part of the agenda at the G8 + 5 meeting of environment ministers in Potsdam in March, the G8 + 5 Summit in Heligendamm in June, leading to the Gleneagles Dialogue with energy and environment ministers from the top 20 energy-using countries in September.”
He added: “If we are to make progress, we must recognise that climate change is part of a wider set of goals around economic security, energy security and national security.
“It will require the engagement not just of environmental ministries but heads of state, prime ministers and finance ministers.”
Miliband warned that if everyone in the world were to consume natural resources and generate carbon dioxide at the same rate as the UK, three planets would be needed.
He said: “We need instead to move towards a one-planet economy and one-planet living - where there is balance between what we give and what we take… Within the next two decades, global emissions must peak and begin to decline.
“There are difficult issues we face and must debate. But unless we find a way to forge an international framework that delivers emissions reductions, we will face colossal humanitarian and financial damage, much of which will be felt in the poorest nations. We cannot afford to fail.”
Miliband insisted that action must be taken quickly.
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