from the ground Up

by Jessica Cheam, in Abu Dhabi

FORMER British prime minister Tony Blair has called on the world to “summon the will and wit” to conclude a new deal on climate change, on the closing day of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
Current economic woes should not be “an excuse for inaction, but a reason for acting,’’ Mr Blair told the 1,800-strong audience at the conference.
He outlined what he felt the global climate deal should look like, stressing that if major emitters such as the US, Europe, China and India don’t agree, “there will be no agreement”.
Mr Blair argued that there should be an interim target before 2050, to give businesses a clear signal to invest in a low carbon future.
This interim target, for example 2020, will be mandatory for the developed world, matched by “differentiated” obligations by the developing world, he said.
His advice to global leaders: Don’t make the best, the enemy of the good.
“The deal must be sufficiently radical to guide the world in a new direction… not small steps, but it must also be realistic,’’ he added.
He highlighted the role technology plays in tackling climate change. One “stark fact’’ he drew attention to, was that over 70 per cent of new power stations in China and India in the next decade will be coal fired.
“That is a mind boggling increase in carbon use,’’ he said, arguing that carbon capture and storage technology - where carbon dioxide emissions are sequestered underground - must be rapidly advanced.
To consumers, he said instead of saying “consume less”, ask people to “consume differently’’. There are now more jobs in the new environmnental industries than in coal, steel and shipping combined, in Britain, he said.
“Nations who worry about diversity and stability of supply will do well to use the green revolution to acquire greater energy independence.’’
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Blair also commended Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City project, which will be the world’s first zero-waste, zero-carbon eco-city completely powered by renewables and boasting 1,500 businesses and 150,000 residents.
“I think this show case is a good idea, it shows what can be done. If it’s a city that is experimenting and sharing new technologies that could be applied elsewhere, I think that’s great.’’
“If Abu Dhabi can do this as one of the oil capitals of the world… that will be a tremendous, persuasive power,’’ he said.
Besides Mr Blair, other notable speakers at the summit included the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize joint winner Dr Rajendra Pachuari, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern who penned the Stern report, and Governor-General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce.
Ms Bryce reiterated Australia’s support for a global deal, and singled out CCS as an area where Australia is proactively taking leadership - it will be opening the world’s first Global Carbon and Capture Storage Institute in Canberra in the next few weeks.
At the closing ceremony on Wednesday, event organiser Turret Middle East’s chairman Richard Hease noted the milestones the conference, which was attended by more than 16,000 delegates, helped to achieve.
Masdar has signed an agreement with the Seychelles government to develop a wind farm to power the country, General Electric became the first major tenant in Masdar City. Masdar even announced a partnership with the Nigerian national petroleum company to develop co2 reduction projects.
Addressing the current economic crisis in his speech, Mr Blair conceded that “it is hard at this moment of immediate crisis to focus on the longer-term challenge our environment faces…’’
But unfortunately, the fact that there’s an economic crisis doesn’t mean climate change has disappeared, he said.
“Let’s not forget the impact high oil prices had on the economy.. so let’s not forget about reducing our dependence on carbon now,’’ he urged.
Ending the three-day summit on an optimistic note, Mr Blair said that the world was “destined to succeed or fail together… But we can look upon the future… with hope that history never poses problems that humankind cannot resolve’’.