House of Lords written statement – made at on 6 April 2010.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, House of Lords, Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Minister of State (Department of Energy and Climate Change), Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
On
The strategy reflects the fact there is much unfinished business following the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009. The conference made significant progress in some areas, but did not live up to our expectations, or those of many countries round the world.
Beyond Copenhagen argues that we should build on what was achieved at Copenhagen but also go further.
The main achievement at Copenhagen was agreement of the accord. The accord includes commitments to limit global temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, to climate finance approaching $30 billion fast-start finance to 2012 with a long-term goal of $100 billion a year by 2020 and for the first time provides a common international framework that includes all the world's major economies. Since the summit more than 70 countries (accounting for around 80 per cent of global emissions) have put forward mitigation targets and actions which, if they deliver at the high end of their ambitions, would be consistent with global emissions peaking before 2020, an important step towards achieving an emissions trajectory consistent with 2 degrees.
The document affirms the importance of delivering against the commitments made in the accord. This includes commitments on emissions reductions, forestry, measurement, reporting and verification and on finance. It highlights the importance both of getting fast-start finance flowing and also of the work of the UN Secretary-General's High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, co-chaired by the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia.
The Government continue to believe that this action has to be backed by a comprehensive legally binding agreement. The UK wants to see progress in the UNFCCC negotiations towards a legally binding agreement, with progress under the Copenhagen accord built on in the formal negotiations. To ease that process we signal that we would agree to an appropriately designed second Kyoto commitment period provided others enter into comparable legally binding arrangements.
We also believe we need to strengthen the UNFCCC process and will be working with the Government of Mexico, amongst others, to do so.
Copies of Beyond Copenhagen have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
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