madam president the recent publication of the first-ever eurobarometer survey of our citizens views on climate change marks the rise of climate change from being a niche environmental issue to being at the heart of european policy
given the global economic and financial turmoil at the moment i can fully understand the concerns of colleagues as we as politicians address what is unquestionably the single greatest moral environmental social and economic challenge facing the whole of mankind namely global warming from our greenhouse gas emissions or climate change
but it will not wait copenhagen will not wait and we cannot be found wanting
as rapporteur for one of the four dossiers of the post twenty twelve climate change regime namely the ets review i have full confidence in our governments to resolve in the shorter term these major economic and financial issues with which we are presented today and resolve them long before twenty thirteen
so while it is the nature of politics to focus on today's problems today we must not be distracted from legislating now for the longer term for the post twenty twelve scenario on this most important of issues or history will not judge us kindly
