Climate Change
Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Nick Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to his oral statement of 12 October 2006, Official Report, column 485, on climate change, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the film "An Inconvenient Truth" has raised awareness of climate change.

Ian Pearson (Minister of State (Climate Change and the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Dudley South, Labour)

Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" was released in the UK on 15 September 2006. According to the distributors, United International Pictures, the film has been seen by 125,000 people. By the time the film is released worldwide, the global audience will be around 5 million.

The film will be released as a DVD on 21 November 2006, with a potential worldwide audience of 10-20 million.

On July 27, the Secretary of State hosted an advanced viewing event of "An Inconvenient Truth" at Bafta in London. The 190 attendees included journalists, students, representatives from various local authorities, large membership organisations, representatives from the voluntary and community sectors, environmental groups and key individuals from executive agencies and funded bodies. Feedback suggested the film is likely to be highly effective in inspiring those who watch it to do more to tackle climate change.