Results 1-20 of 45 for climate change speaker:Desmond Turner

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: ...and cheering them on—they cannot do it on their own. That is the nub of the problem. That is not only why we need an international agreement if we are to achieve any success in combating climate change, but why it is extremely difficult to do so. We have watched a sort of stately gavotte in climate change negotiations for years, going round and round in circles, producing very...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: Well, I find that extremely hard to believe. The resistance to climate change in the US is very strong. I remember the first real redneck I ever met was a senator from Wisconsin. He leaned back in his chair, put his feet on his desk and said, "If it impinges badly on the American economy, there is no way we're gonna ratify Kyoto." The US economy comes first, second, third and fourth as far as...

Closed Circuit Television (Monitoring and Promotion): Clause 2 — General objective (27 Oct 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: ...that some conservationists and animal or marine ecologists are blind to the fact that the most important threat to ecosystems, apart from bad fishing practices, gravel extraction or whatever, is climate change. That is what makes renewable energy installations totally different in kind from any other socio-economic use. Provided that their immediate ecosystem impact is benign, which by...

Closed Circuit Television (Monitoring and Promotion): Clause 2 — General objective (27 Oct 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: ...-scale industry, we have to go through the initial phase up to the first 100 MW or so without impediment. If there is undue impediment, that phase will not happen and we will miss out on the climate change mitigation benefit and fail to exploit the enormous energy resources that nature has given us. Others will reap the benefit, and it will be a tragedy and detrimental to our marine...

Closed Circuit Television (Monitoring and Promotion): Clause 2 — General objective (27 Oct 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: ...will do. They are very simple. Their effect is to give the IPC consenting powers over any renewable energy installation with a capacity of more than 1 MW. That might seem like a technical change, but it is much more than that, as I hope to demonstrate. I warmly welcome the Bill. It is crucial to the future management of our seas and to the conservation of the ecosystems, but it is equally...

Bill Presented: Marine and Coastal Access Bill [ Lords] (23 Jun 2009)

Desmond Turner: ...conservationists—in this particular instance, marine ecologists, namely seal lovers—took the narrowest perspective they could possibly take. The seal populations of the area had already changed quite drastically over recent years. Why had they changed? It was not because there was a turbine and the seals were afraid that it would mash them up. No, it had changed because of...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (11 Feb 2009) has video

Desmond Turner: I am sure that my right hon. Friend would agree that we must not let the financial crisis deflect us from tackling climate change. I do not know whether he is aware that companies involved in developing low-carbon technologies are suffering from the credit crunch and that projects are at risk. Will he undertake to ensure that the Government do all that they can to give these companies the...

Orders of the Day: Climate Change Bill [Lords] (9 Jun 2008)

Desmond Turner: As has already been made clear, it is not in the IPCC reports, which err on the side of conservatism and are entirely consensual. However, everybody knows that there are step-change events that could completely transform the situation—for example, if the Amazon rainforest burned or if the Arctic tundra melted and released the enormous quantities of methane trapped in it; methane is a...

Orders of the Day: New Clause 4 — Tariffs for renewable energy (30 Apr 2008) has video

Desmond Turner: I must confess to a grave feeling of personal disappointment with the Bill, because it is being published at a time when Parliament has thoroughly recognised the vital importance of combating climate change and, I hope, of promoting renewable energy, which is one of our most potent weapons for fighting climate change. I am disappointed because this legislative vehicle has nothing to promote...

Orders of the Day: Energy Bill (22 Jan 2008) has video

Desmond Turner: ...to the scale of the challenge facing us. Even if they are built, not one single kilowatt-hour will be provided from a new nuclear station to address the coming energy gap, or to help us to meet our climate change demands. Enough of nuclear—it is renewables that seriously matter at the moment, for various reasons. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, in opening this debate,...

Orders of the Day: Planning Bill (10 Dec 2007)

Desmond Turner: ...at some point in our careers. However, we must ask ourselves whether a planning system that is built on that premise is fit for purpose in the modern age. Unfortunately, given that addressing climate change is probably the most compelling political driver of national policy, and that one of the most powerful ways of addressing climate change is to decarbonise our energy economy by...

Orders of the Day: Planning Bill (10 Dec 2007) has video

Desmond Turner: ...pass through several planning authorities, all of which must give consent at every stage. There is clearly a lot of logic behind the infrastructure planning commission, which, in the context of climate change, will be essential. The UK is breaking new ground with the Climate Change Bill. As far as I understand, the principle behind that Bill is universally accepted throughout the House. No...

Orders of the Day: Local Government and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (8 Nov 2007) has video

Desmond Turner: I make no apology for continuing to bang on about climate change. It is, after all, probably the most important topic to be debated in the Chamber since the war. It is just as great and palpable a threat to the entire human race as would be a catastrophic global war. The potential for casualties is just as great. I hope that we shall be able to build cross-party consensus on the Climate...

Points of Order: Marine Environment (19 Apr 2007)

Desmond Turner: ...is any better as a result of the time taken. In addition, there is considerable duplication of effort in carrying out environmental assessments, which adds to the costs. Let us think in terms of climate change. Gaining environmental consent is a delaying factor holding us back in the deployment of renewable energy, so if we had been able to speed the process up earlier, we could have had...

Orders of the Day: Energy Saving (Daylight) Bill (26 Jan 2007)

Desmond Turner: ...It seems to border on the immoral to pass up the opportunity of saving more than 100 lives a year—not just any lives but, predominantly, the lives of children—and, given our emphasis on climate change, to pass up the opportunity of saving, at a conservative estimate, at least 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. How can we deny that possibility? We should remember that...

Business of the House (19 Oct 2006)

Desmond Turner: .... It has since been published and it raises as many questions as it has provided answers and has spawned a series of reviews. However, it is overwhelmingly important, especially in relation to our climate change policy. Will my right hon. Friend facilitate a full debate in the House on the future direction of our energy policy?

Energy (15 Feb 2006)

Desmond Turner: ...; to lay upon the Authority a duty to promote the use of renewable energy and energy conservation; and for connected purposes. The Bill is intended as a contribution to the energy review and to climate change policy. It is only a ten-minute Bill so it cannot carry the full story on its face, but it relates to a series of measures that, if enacted, would deliver the aspirations of the 2003...