mr president it is critical for an international consensus to be reached on tackling climate change and global warming
the copenhagen summit provides us with an opportunity
but let us think for a moment of the problems facing this summit
the us the world's biggest economy has failed to agree to specific greenhouse gas emission reductions for twenty twenty and many other developed industrialised nations are uncertain as to whether the ambitious actions required are possible
let us be clear we really have no choice
the eu in setting ambitious targets for twenty twenty and twenty fifty has acted courageously and must now urge others to do the same
we cannot meet our targets without cooperation from other states
the establishment of an effective global carbon market is crucial as is international consensus if we are to avoid the risk of protectionist measures relating to co emissions within the eu
at copenhagen we must encourage courageous leadership from the national governments of large industrialised nations
although individual states in the us have begun to tackle climate change there is a woeful lack of leadership from the federal government
we need the us and emerging economies such as india and china to form a partnership with us for the future of our planet
we can encourage developing nations to follow a different less environmentally damaging path of industrialisation
they still have time to take a fresh approach that will be less environmentally damaging and we must help them in the planning and building of the infrastructure which will achieve this
