Bali:Rich countries that "continue to prevaricate" in confronting global warming were "guilty of a gross dereliction of duty and future generations will judge them harshly", according to Minister for the Environment John Gormley
Rich countries that "continue to prevaricate" in confronting global warming were "guilty of a gross dereliction of duty and future generations will judge them harshly", according to Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
Addressing the first plenary session of the 13th UN Conference on Climate Change, he said everyone knew that "the window of opportunity to prevent dangerous climate change is rapidly closing" and there was "an onus on the developed countries to show real leadership".
The Green Party leader said 2007 had seen an extraordinary growth in global awareness of the crisis. "In Ireland, there is now a new shade of green" and climate change was "at the heart of Government policy" - the "defining reason" why the Greens had got involved.
"We have set up a new cabinet committee on climate change chaired by our prime minister, introduced an annual carbon budget and announced a series of measures, including the elimination of energy-inefficient light bulbs, to reduce our carbon emissions," he said.
Referring to the need for a "Bali road map" leading to a comprehensive climate agreement in 2009, Mr Gormley said ministers would all have to ask themselves when they returned to their own countries whether they had "seized the opportunity when it was within our grasp".
Saying that "we simply cannot leave Bali without a road map", he added that as political leaders, "we must send the clearest signal yet that we are entering a new era, an era which sees a real paradigm shift. We must begin to think in an entirely new way.
"If carbon is to become the new global currency then we must put a price on carbon . . . Targets are an essential underpinning of the international carbon market, which will drive consumer and investor behaviour towards a low-carbon, sustainable future."
Mr Gormley warmly congratulated Australia on its decision to sign the Kyoto Protocol. He was also "proud that the European Union has shown leadership".
"But we cannot do this on our own. All developed countries need to make comparable efforts to collectively reduce their emissions in a range of 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020" - a clear reference to the US, Canada and Japan in particular.
"There is an onus on the developed countries to show real leadership. Those developed countries that continue to prevaricate are guilty of a gross dereliction of duty, and future generations will judge them harshly."
