Carwyn pledges to lead from the front
Carwyn pledges to go to Copenhagen if he becomes First Minister
He does so in the belief that last week’s motion in the National Assembly, committing Wales to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by the year 2020, should be a priority for the next First Minister. This morning he reminds us that in his manifesto he made the economy and climate change his top two priorities.
The purpose of Copenhagen is to attempt to reach agreement on finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012. The former Environment Minister also reminds us he published the first Sustainable Development Scheme, mainstreaming sustainability through the Assembly’s activities and ensured delivery of ambitious targets on recycling, energy efficiency and renewable energy; and also the 20-year Environment Strategy for Wales, focusing on a new programme to improve local environmental quality and implementing a Climate Change adaptation plan.
Reflecting on this important agenda, Carwyn made clear today: “The 2020 target on greenhouse gas emissions agreed last week is important, however, there is an imperative that we start making real and sustained progress on reductions now. The sooner we start making headway on this, then the sooner the commitment we made last week, can be delivered.
“I want to make it clear. The target we have set in Wales is not about ambition. We see it being about necessity for our planet and for our children. If a small country like Wales can muster the political will – across party lines – then it is incumbent on other countries, to follow suit at Copenhagen next month.”
Speaking specifically on his pledge to go to Copenhagen if elected First Minister, Carwyn said: “Developed countries are being challenged to achieve 40% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. In Wales, if we add the annual 3% reduction already agreed in ‘One Wales’ to our current reduction since 1990 – which equates to 14% – this means that we will achieve more than 40% on current plans, without offsetting. This makes Wales an exemplar for other nations to follow.
“Wales is now in an unparalleled position on climate change – a status that this gives us both a strength and credibility within the international community, despite being a small country.
“There can be no better way to encourage other Governments to follow our example, than for the First Minister to deliver Wales’ message in person in Copenhagen.”
Certainly a striking pledge which demonstrates the Jones campaign has lost none of its momentum as it enters the final leg of the race.
We previously set out the declared environmental policies of all three candidates, which can be found here.
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Not being too cynical but as the late great Joe Stalin would put it when told that the Pope was concerned about an issue. ‘How many divisions has the Pope got?’ Is anyone taking notice of what the Minister President of Baden Wuttermburg is saying on global warming or the Governor of Arizona for that matter? We are talking about the person who will become the leader of a small group of regional politicians not some guru who will lead the world to nirvana. The Indians and the Chinese are not going to take much notice of Obama let alone someone from’ little ole Wales. ‘ We can all get a little carried away with this leadership election when it is clear from the You Gov poll you quoted in another thread that most people don’t have an opinion basically because they don’t know who the candiates are. The same poll asked respondents who they thought would win the X factor. I wouldn’t be surprised that everybody had an opinion on that earth shattering issue.
Jeff
I think you’re not only being too cynical but thinking too much “big power politics” when it comes to climate change: this isn’t nuclear disarmament we’re talking about, with a noisy but almost entirely uninfluential public. Climate change is being tackled – and will need to be tackled – at many many different levels from individuals to corporates to local and regional governments as well as the big states. Do you not think the views of consumers impacted on M and S’s Plan A? Doesn’t express business concern over global warming impact on Tory or indeed Labour party thinking? And of course the actions of the Governors of a number of US states have impacted strongly on the centre and left of US political thinking at national level.
There is no nirvana on Climate (although the Indians will listen to Obama and indeed are very clear about what they want to cut a deal) but a whole lot of different interconnected actions and Carwyn or whoever wins next month will have a role to play. They will be the nearest Wales has to a voice on this issue (outwards and inwards), they will decide which of the difficult initial radical choices Wales takes on sustainability (and any sensible UK govnt will be encouraging trials at big city/devolved nation level) and will obviously take a key role in how far the response to climate change impacts acrss a range of domestic policies. Carwyn’s stance is arguably smart politics too, climate is a totem issue for many educated young people who will be voting in increased numbers as they get older and as the symptoms of the problem become more acute.