UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen must avoid failure - Dixon

4.39.00pm GMT Wed 9th Dec 2009

John Dixon, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Cardiff North, is calling on the parties at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to put their differences aside and agree a binding, international treaty to reduce greenhouse gases.

"At this critical summit we have to ask ourselves not whether we can afford to combat climate change but whether we can afford to ignore it.

"The recent decision of the US Environmental Protection Agency to declare greenhouse gases an official threat to public health creates a window of opportunity. President Obama should now not hesitate to make an unambiguous and ambitious commitment in Copenhagen.

"Carbon reduction target pledges need to be sufficient to put the world on a path that limits global temperature increase to less than two degrees Celsius. It is essential to find more significant funding for the mitigation and adaptation efforts for the effects of climate change on the developing world. There must be a binding international treaty and one that contains an appropriate mechanism so that the carbon reduction effort is measurable.

"Time is running out for concerted action to halt global warming. It is the responsibility of the current generation of world leaders to show the long-term vision that will preserve a planet worth inhabiting in 50-100 years."